Requiem of Change
by The Master Weaponsmith
Summary: It all started with a peach tree named Pear...
1. Default Chapter

Believe it or not it all started with a spat over a peach tree.  
  
If you didn't know, peaches are special to this particular kingdom, as the preferred fruit of our current and most likely eternal sovereign his majesty King Jareth. If the name does not ring a bell his other nicknames are: Jareth, The King, you-know-who, that idiot on the throne, arrogant jerk, and his royal haughtiness.  
  
Notably, the last three are usually used on a much rarer basis and not always without some sort of consequence usually involving rather unpleasant but never fatal situations which his royal highness has continuously denied all involvement with. However the chances that fruit can instantaneously spoil and five feet from the gates to the goblin city your path may abruptly change after centuries of being the exact same route, is highly unlikely. Especially when it has happened seventeen times to various people moments after using those phrases. Hence it isn't very wise to use them.  
  
Anyway, back to the peach tree though. I am the proud and rightful owner of one of the Labyrinth's many peach groves, and yes there are quite a few. If there were several hundred within the boundaries I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. Of course when I say grove though I mean three. Three peach trees that is.  
  
In the Labyrinth two would be enough to count as a grove considering the number of safe places to grow peaches.  
  
So naturally when I awoke one morning to find one of my three gone, I was quite upset. Peach trees do not just wander off you know. Even in the underground, and especially my trees. I've been a longstanding citizen of the Labyrinth and they knew the highways and byways as well as I did, if one of them was to leave they would have left a note in the sand or told me themself. Peach trees are polite like that, (can't for the life of me figure out how that makes them you-know-who's favorite fruit) at least to their owners and people with axes.  
  
Peach trees are smart like that.  
  
As I said I'm not the only peach tree owner in the Labyrinth so I immediately suspected another one. (It helped that I had caught them trying to steal it a few days ago.) It was only a simple matter of checking their grove which had doubled in size from one tree to two and then restraining my anger at the sight of seeing my poor peach tree staked to the ground. To hold it upright, she would have claimed.  
  
Yes, Isabelle. You could just tell from the sickeningly sweet sound of her name that she was a peach-grove-owner-wannabe. She only owned one tree yesterday and now two, while I was missing one. It was too suspicious. The only trouble was, if I tried to take my tree back she would call the goblin guards on me and then take me to the King who would ask why didn't I just bring it to him. (I should have done that a few days ago but I'm such a nice girl I figured it wouldn't happen again.)  
  
Not my ideal wake up call to reality.  
  
Needless to say I started off towards the castle. His majesty would be returning from the Council meeting around noon and if I managed to get to the city by then I would miss all the massive rearranging that always happened after his visits. That would give me the entire day to map a new way back to my grove. I was confident they'd be fine until I returned (I gave them my meat knives on the way to the castle.)  
  
They're clever trees, they'd know what to do.  
  
I wound up having to sprint the last fifty meters as the clearing I was walking across suddenly began to shift east away from the front gate but I made it. Barely.  
  
The back hem of my skirt swept past the great stone gates just as a stream dug a new path across the entrance and ended up a little damp. He must be back early. I really didn't want to consider having to cross the stream again on my way home so I began formulating how I'd present my argument.  
  
King Jareth wasn't a bad ruler, quite the contrary he was actually really fair about judging and sorting out all sorts of things that came before him, considering how ludicrous some of them were, but...  
  
Bluntly put the King had an odd sense of humor.  
  
A really, very, unpredictably, sarcastic and quite often sadistic sense of humor. Lets just say; you didn't always get with what you were hoping for although often enough it was exactly what you asked for.  
  
I've seen a father who wanted to distribute his five-tree grove evenly between two sons and can you guess what his majesty did? Cut one in half. Exactly what they asked for but..yeah. I suppose it was deserved seeing how the father had made such a big deal of it and the two sons were arguing who got the third. Evidently they wanted him to give them another tree or magically create another one as fae can do that. (His majesty is a fae by the way) But nooo.he did exactly as requested and the tree was split right down the center. He even ate three of the peaches so they'd receive the same number of fruit.  
  
As I said.an odd sense of humor.  
  
I quickly shuffled to the end of the line, which had already begun to form outside the castle. It looked particularly imposing, I bet King Jareth was in a bad mood.  
  
I rested my head on my fist and dutifully listened to the next case. Meting out judgment wasn't something I particularly enjoyed but it was something that I had to do.  
  
As king.  
  
Sometimes I wondered if it was worth being king if I had to listen to all these foolish issues. Most could be resolved with the simplest of compromises. However the residents of my kingdom are notoriously stubborn they probably take after their king and such simple matters must be listened to and then forced. By the king.  
  
Unfortunately, for today's justice seekers The King wasn't feeling very just, or generous, add to the list kind, thoughtful, benevolent and all those other sugar laced words that are synonymous with nice. In fact on council days I almost never was.  
  
In a way it's a passive form of punishment for people who lay more bad news on me after I've been given the official bad news for the next month. Only council news actually will cause massive trouble if I don't do something about it and if a goblin locks someone out of their house it usually only lasts as long as a first floor window.  
  
It would be incorrect to say that the Council rules the underground. More like, if anyone particularly Kings, Queens, or other rulers get out of line they unite the other rulers to do something about it. I find it amusing when the council attempts to understand the workings of an inconsistent kingdom like mine; it annoys me out my mind when they say I have to take action on their attempts.  
  
I tell them time and time again that I cannot control the exact positioning of the Labyrinth and cannot help it if the bog ends up right on the boarder of the elven kingdom. If I tell them I can't they shouldn't insist on a solution to a problem I have no control over. Actually I do, but they don't know that and they still insist on action.  
  
It really does get on my nerves.  
  
Realms take after their Kings being magically connected directly to reflect the ruler's personality and in my case mood and whim. Because of this my realm also harbors the most thieves, tricksters and all around mischievous beings who are not what they appear. Due to a certain intolerance of my for thievery none steal from my domain which unfortunately puts our neighboring countries at my citizens mercy. Also another issue the council discussed with me. One I actually cannot control, frankly when they stole in the Labyrinth I could tell if the thief was male, female, short, tall, good, bad, even who had crafted their shoes. I have much less control of the realms outside of mine. Why should I?  
  
Either way, it's another 'problem' that as their sovereign I should take care of. And have every intention of not even trying.  
  
The third issue of the day was of course what it's always been on the effectiveness of the Labyrinth. Another facet that I can't do anything about and another issue the council is massively underinterpreting.  
  
The labyrinth is the method of trial for those who wish away their children, as is my duty as part of the Underground. However they don't seem to understand that not every contender that runs the labyrinth is supposed to fail. Naturally each person who is faced with it is on no occasion told that other have run it and defeated it. Frankly if they want the child that badly I'm more than willing to return it to them.  
  
If the wisher really cares about the child technically they should be able to navigate the labyrinth. Or rather, the labyrinth should make it impossible for them not to arrive at the city within the thirteen hours. If they get lost while going through the city.well they probably aren't smart enough to care for the child anyway.  
  
It's not meant to be an impassable feat, it's supposed to judge the responsibility of the runner. Sometimes if the runner is responsible enough I'll not let them through though, for other circumstantial reasons. I'm after all not a complete jerk like many believe, and I don't deny.  
  
So for reasons more than obvious my mood was not at its best when one of the peach grove owner came forth with a petty complaint over a single tree.  
  
Now, my patience is usually more generous when it comes to the grove owners. I am somewhat of a benefactor for their lifestyle as the Labyrinth is the only part of the underground where peaches can grow and then be safely eaten afterwards. I myself reserve a particular affinity for the fruit, which is just as well since it's my kingdom. However, a single fruit tree, no matter how special weighed nothing in comparison to the possible repercussions if I didn't pay attention to the more serious problems at hand: those posed by the council.  
  
It was a young girl who came forward. Long wavy brown hair, which was dark enough to be mistaken for black and rich enough to be taken for satin was paired with a smooth and rather exotic face. Her clothes a smock and long sleeved shirt were of the finest silk. Yet the smock was a blotchy chestnut to the cream color of the shirt and she went barefoot and wore no jewelry. Also the other petitioners were giving her a wide berth. She had to be a peach grove owner.  
  
It was probably the only thing keeping her from getting married and staying out of my court. The thought didn't improve her chances even fractionally.  
  
"Your majesty my neighbor Isabelle stole one of my peach trees."  
  
I could have spoken them in unison. It was the complaint of every grove owner. "So and so stole my tree!" add the angry snap and clenched fists and anyone would mistake you for one.  
  
"How many trees do you have?"  
  
"I have three.well, now I have two." She replied automatically before correcting herself.  
  
"Do your two have peaches?" I pressed.  
  
"Yes. Why?" she asked quizzically.  
  
"I hereby give you permission to seed two peaches and own four trees."  
  
"That's not fair!"  
  
I smirked. How I loved that phrase.  
  
It was rather cruel and unkind but it was a dismissal nonetheless and she knew it. I wasn't required to be just all the time and maybe if enough people got upset over the council days they wouldn't bother me on them or in that faint possibility they'd send the council bad peaches. I had been generous, royal permission was required to grow a certain amount of trees, she had been awarded a great honor by being allowed to own another. In my mood she was lucky that I hadn't turned her shirt into that missing peach tree that she wanted so much.  
  
That wouldn't have been nice either but I've got a reputation to uphold. Besides the male petitioners would probably love me all the more for it. The women too perhaps, since it was a grove owner. They tend to be rather eccentric. Reminds me of myself. 


	2. BAM Aboveground

I walked out of the halls in something akin to shock. Except I wasn't, because shock is when you don't think and I was thinking furiously. I couldn't for the life of me understand why he hadn't just order the tree returned. It would have taken one sentence instead of the couple that he needed to order me to start a four-tree grove.  
  
Which was of course, ludicrous.  
  
Anyone can see I'm clearly a three-tree grove kind of girl.  
  
Either way, something had to be seriously upsetting his majesty for him to make such an order. Even on other council days grove owners always got the better part of his judgment. This latest change could be a new wave of change for the grove owners, and not a positive one in the least. Or he could just be having a bad day.but he was the King, a simple bad day couldn't break a tradition that's gone on for centuries. It's practically a refined play!  
  
I say. "My neighbor has stolen a tree."  
  
He says. "By royal decree that tree is to be returned unharmed and with all it's fruit."  
  
It must have been something seriously substantial to break the ritual. Seriously substantial like massive labyrinth rearranging substantial, besides the council, that was normal. What else could have caused such an abrupt change of mood? What else had caused massive Labyrinth rearranges.  
  
I almost slapped myself. Of course! It had to be a girl; whenever guys got in one of those strange girl-hating moods it was always a girl. He had been serious with every petitioner up to me and they had all been guys and then.  
  
BAM  
  
Me the physical representation of exactly what he didn't want to see. No wonder I got the short end of his patience. I don't remember his majesty having any affairs lately though. None of the aristocracy wanted a serious relation either since he did, after all, rule the "Goblin Kingdom". (It was only called that because they outnumber the rest of us.)  
  
Either way, there hadn't been any talk of marriages, engagements, betrothals or any other royal slang like that in the last few weeks. I wonder if something happened at the council.did he propose and get turned down or something? I wouldn't be surprised.  
  
Well.I wouldn't be surprised if the girl turned him down but he hasn't proposed in over.X millennia or something because that last one laughed when he asked.  
  
Poor guy, I'd almost feel sorry if he hadn't listened to the rest of the Labyrinth's citizens going on about how she was a stuck up snob and was just using him. For the land where lies is one of the traits a surprising amount of truth is told.  
  
Either way, they would have had the ugliest kids in the Underground. The last female anything that he really paid much attention to was the last wisher. What's her face or another. Either way, word was that more went on in the castle than the usual 'fine-go-home-then' ceremony.  
  
The goblins say that he led her into the stair room and offered himself. But then again the goblins claim that he turn into a goblin when the sun goes down and that he collects peach pits as well. The goblin part may just be some sort of punishment from the council but he would never collect peach pits. That's just wrong. Peaches are sacred.  
  
Yeah he wouldn't do that.  
  
He wouldn't offer himself to that girl either.  
  
Nah.  
  
I stopped short, causing people to twist to the side to miss me as I halted. There was an awful lot of rearranging going on while she was passing through. He had been really rather depressed afterwards though, more of his quirky humor popping up in his judgment just up until a few years ago.Woah! Three weeks would be the anniversary of the day she came!  
  
That had to be it! He was getting in a post-..post-whatever-her-name-is slump! Old memories reawakening and reopening old wounds. All the heartache and rejection rushing back into vivid memory of a time when love was young.relatively speaking anyway. That wouldn't give good reason to take it out on me though. It's not my fault she rejected him, she was only a baby too, double-digit years at most. Even if she were my age he would still be robbing the cradle.really really badly.  
  
I can't say I've ever been in love. I've got my trees. Right! Gotta get back to the trees. They're probably wearing themselves out by now with the knives. I started walking again, I could walk and think at the same time. I'm a grove owner, we can do anything.  
  
I wandered out of the Goblin city, the stream had moved. Thank goodness. But the Labyrinth wasn't back to normal yet and probably wouldn't be for a while. If, it did go back to the way it was. I picked a likely looking direction and began walking, after living hear a couple of years you develop somewhat of an instinct for direction.  
  
Or you get hopelessly lost and starve!  
  
Either way, I had a vague idea of where I needed to go and what direction it was in. That would be enough to get me back to my trees.  
  
Actually it might be the girl. I still can't remember her name(another Labyrinth citizen trait). I've never really fallen in love, not enough to consider marriage. If she knocked him off his feet in under a day she must have been something. That's the way his majesty fell last time too, one glance was all it took. One laugh to end it as well.anyway.  
  
I needed to get my tree back. I have very special trees, we share a bond me and them. They're nice and polite and have my sense of humor, we get along perfect. They also produce some of the best fruit in the realm and that makes me look good. Either way, if that girl was the source of the problem she was most likely the answer too. I don't have enough magic to zap myself across worlds but that doesn't mean that there aren't doors already open. It'd just be a matter of finding her and then making her eat the right peach.  
  
Truth Peach = instant answers. It would solve my problem if her presence got his majesty back into his normal mood and then maybe I could go back and ask again. Fate knows if I try to steal my tree back she'll take it to him and he'll act normal or something. That would be horrible. My poor tree.  
  
So it's off to mortal land I go then, after I check on my trees of course.  
  
The underground is riddled with those paper-thin weak spots where one only has to think of microwaves and toasters and zap, you're on the other side. On the other side of the equation if you're thinking of unicorns and fairies and walk across the particular spot, bam you're on our side. The trick is knowing right where it is and what you have to think of to get across.  
  
See, these spots are made by incredible spurts of belief and magic. It takes a whole lot of belief or a whole lot of magic, either way. Stories are whispered of exiled fae who don't want to run their entire lives and dreaming of that peace find themselves above ground. Likewise for humans only on a more.humane scale I suppose.  
  
There are three of these 'thin ice' patches in the Labyrinth. The first is in the bog, go figure no one uses that one. The second is in the alpine forest, which is similarly unused, and the third is in a fountain in the stature garden. How they got there, I don't know.  
  
I do know the pass thoughts for each of them though.  
  
I decided on the alpine forest. No one would see me crossing, like they might on the other two and no one would steal peaches off my trees if I left them there.  
  
My trees were right where I left them, amongst the spring gardens. I clambered up in their branches after taking the knives away and tucking them under my belt. We started off for the minor mountain range that had just shifted to the northwest. The alpine forest was on the lower end of the three peak chain and peach trees travel a lot faster than I do. I would have ridden them to the castle except they hate cobblestones.  
  
Ah yes, my trees, their names are Apple, Pear and Kestrel. Pear is currently the one being held by Isabelle. As soon as the girl is over here, I'll ask again for her return.  
  
All my peach trees are very clever, not always as you can tell by their names but they've gotten considerably more intelligent as the years passed.  
  
Kestrel started off the least bright, but she's now the smartest of the three with something of an attitude, if I let her have the knives for too long she goes around terrorizing other citizens. Apple is somewhat less aggressive but similarly smart with a nasty streak that rises now and again which produces plans and tactics of a far different cry than Kestrel. Apple tends to produce the more dangerous peaches, Kestrel the more complex ones.  
  
And Pear, pear is the odd one, she's mixed with an actual pear graft on one bough, which I guess is why she chose to name herself that. All trees name themselves by the way. She's always been very.pious if you can use that term for a tree. She gives me all the 'nice' peaces that'll make you prettier, or fall in love, or make you a ball gown until midnight. All that fun sort of stuff. Not nearly as useful as Apple or Kestrel but she had that quality that just made you content to be with her.  
  
Apple and Kestrel make me want to go out and do mischief.  
  
We arrived at the spot just after midday, which was incredible as far as navigating a newly formed Labyrinth goes.  
  
I slipped off and prepared the recalled the image of bicycles in my mind as I gave last minute instructions to my trees. They had to be quick to otherwise it would be last-two-minutes instructions.  
  
"I'll be gone for about a few hours alright. I want you to stay in this area, no terrorizing, and don't magic any of your fruit while I'm gone, that includes invisibility peaches, okay. Now before I go I need a truth peach."  
  
Kestrel was kind enough to make one of the juicier looking ones into the object of desire and it fell with a soft whiff into my outstretched hand. I rubbed both their trunks and gave them hugs. I would only be going for a short time, but it seems like forever whenever I'm away from my trees. I climbed up the rock in between them, closed my eyes, and brought the two- wheeled image of the mechanical device to mind.  
  
The wind swirled around me and then stilled a more acrid warmer wind than the alpine frosted breeze. I opened my eyes and got my first look at aboveground. 


	3. What is tea?

It was a lot more.stiff, that was the first thought, the second was, gods the trees would hate it here. The air was filled with, ulgh, something gross that stuck to my skin and got in my eyes and nose and I could taste it too. It was awful. Besides that there were a lot more roads running about, black ones, white ones, striped ones, and ones with pictures scrawled across the surface or being scrawled across the surface.  
  
A little boy was busy decorating the nearest one, and seemed to know what he was doing. I went over to ask directions; after all I wasn't a guy and had no problem with it.  
  
"Hey there!"  
  
He looked up, and didn't seem in the slightest surprised to see a barefoot girl with waist long hair striding across the park with a peach in her hand. I liked the kid already; he had potential to be a grove owner.  
  
"Yeah." He asked innocently.  
  
"I'm looking for someone." I told him. "About yeay tall, brown hair, blue eyes, around eighteen years old wished her brother away when she was fifteen. Do you know where she is?"  
  
"Are you from the underground?"  
  
What a smart little guy, I think if I ever have a kid, I want him to be like this. "Yep, so you know who I'm talking about then right?"  
  
"Yeah, my sister."  
  
"Grand!" I don't think things could have gone better if planned. "Well, where is she?"  
  
"I don't think she'll want to see you."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She'll be suspicious."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She doesn't like the Goblin King."  
  
"Wh-oh wait, you don't have to explain that." I thought for a moment, the kid seemed pretty intelligent, and logical. I could understand his sister's biases, after all she wasn't a citizen and his majesty is the biggest flirt. Anything to make people uncomfortable so he can get the upper hand, I've heard this includes flirting with guys, but that's probably just rumor.  
  
"Do you dislike the Goblin King?" I asked hesitantly. If he didn't this would cue him in that I didn't exactly detest his royal haughtiness. Otherwise I might have an ally.  
  
"Not really." He replied nonchalantly.  
  
"No?" On second thought, if someone didn't like the goblin king in their own opinion their sanity defiantly had to be questioned.  
  
"He was nice."  
  
Damn good memory for a four-year-old I lost my shoes because they weren't where I remembered I put them. Then again, in the Labyrinth it's a different story. "You remember?" I asked slowly.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Wow. Everything?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What color is his hair?"  
  
"Yellow."  
  
Well, white-gold was the usual terminology. "Close enough." I congratulated him. "So what's your name?"  
  
"Toby Williams."  
  
"Toby Williams huh? Wow that's a very..a very..who named you?"  
  
"My Dad."  
  
"Mr. Williams right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Right. Very.unique.um that means special." Okay, found the boy, now for the girl, I'd find her, confront her and.  
  
"So anyway, Toby, if I wanted to change your sister's mind about the Goblin King how would I go about it."  
  
He twisted around so he was sitting Indian style. "Well first, you'd have like tea."  
  
Wow, mortals are complicated. "Okay, tea. Now what?"  
  
"Then you have to hate peaches."  
  
I stared at the one in my hand. I was screwed over already and I hadn't even met the girl. I stuffed it in a pocket. "Hate peaches, like tea. Got it."  
  
"Well."  
  
After three hours of chatter to a four year old I was officially educated in the art of romanticizing Sarah Williams with the sovereign of my country. A sovereign that I currently loathed and normally thought was related to the bog toads. But I had a very good informant. Toby went back to his sidewalk drawing, of which turned out to be startlingly realistic abstracts of goblins. It felt good to walk all over them though; Toby and I marched back and forth across seven squares of their stupid little heads. I've never felt more satisfied.  
  
The plan went that I waited for Sarah Williams to appear from behind a tree. Where I would walk up and greet her in a 'nice and innocent with no mention of goblins or kings or undergrounds' manner but with plenty 'magic and fairies and fantasy'. Somewhere during the entire thing I was supposed to mention my absolute detest for peaches and my love for tea.  
  
What was tea?  
  
We waited.and waited..and waited. And for a change of pace we stamped on the goblins again and made up some creative insults and then went back to waiting. After a while it got dark and the air began to get a little bit colder, so Toby came over and sat on my lap because I don't feel cold that well and he did. When it was completely dark and torches began lighting themselves like they do in the Labyrinth at night I woke him up and asked where he lived. We'd have to wait for her tomorrow.  
  
I picked him up, because he was sleepy, after getting directions and began walking across the park, through the second back yard, and up the steps of the white house. It wasn't that hard for a Labyrinth citizen. Luckily, Sarah was there, and her parents weren't.  
  
I was at a loss once I'd gone up the steps to the white house. There was a door there but I didn't know what to do to open it, and after a while since it failed to talk to me I decided to knock. Often enough the door spirit fell asleep or visited a friend.  
  
To my infinite surprise, Sarah Williams herself opened it. She seemed to see Toby first, I don't know why, since I'm a lot bigger. But she threw open the door. "Toby! Where have you been?" she was in near hysterics.  
  
He didn't wake up but murmured something and drooled a little to my dismay.  
  
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "Come in, what happened?"  
  
She held the door open wider and I took the hint stepping through the threshold. "He was in the park, and when it got dark I figured I'd take him home since it was beginning to get chilly." I explained.  
  
"Oh, I should have known." She muttered. "I take him to the park on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he probably got the days mixed up."  
  
I nodded. What in the world were Tuesdays and Thursdays? "That must have been it."  
  
She walked me over to a more comfortable looking sitting room and arranged some blankets and pillows in an oddball sort of nest. "Put him there." She told me.  
  
I tucked him down into the layers and watched as she tucked in the corners, propped the pillows, and checked his temperature. She would make a good mother.  
  
"Thank you so much for bringing him home. I really, had no idea where he had gone I was about to call the Police." She told me somewhat embarrassed.  
  
I put an arm around her shoulder and led her back towards the kitchen pantry combination all in one. "Don't worry, he's fine. I'm Alyia by the way.why don't we have some tea." I gave her a small pat on the shoulder (something I do to calm my trees).  
  
It worked She nodded, brushing some tears from her eyes. "That's such a good idea, I'll make some. Thank you again."  
  
I nodded warmly and sat at the small square table. "That's alright, everything's fine."  
  
She began pulling open cabinets and put a pot on the big white thing, which burst into flames at the turn of a dial. Well it didn't look like there was much magic here but it didn't look like they needed it. "I know, I know but I was so worried, he was lost and I didn't know where he was."  
  
But wait, if she didn't know where she was that would mean that he was lost. She was getting hysterical and I still had the truth peach in my pocket.  
  
"I was so worried, what would happen if someone stole him? Or if he got hurt there and couldn't get home? What if he got lost?" she was sobbing and the water began to steam as she tossed a pinch of dried leaves in an ornate porcelain pitcher placing the cap on the counter.  
  
I glanced at her shaking hands and then at the boiling water and then at her tear streaked face. Leaping from my seat I walked quickly to where she was, pulling a handkerchief out of my sleeve and drying her tears as I led her to the table.  
  
"It's alright, Toby's safe and sound. It's all over, and now you have a good idea what to do if it happens again." I consoled her. "Here have a seat, I'll make the tea."  
  
I left her with my handkerchief at the table and walked over to the boiling water. The handle was of a funny black material and sort of hot, so I used a dishtowel on the counter as I poured it into the porcelain pitcher. Then as an afterthought I pulled out my peach and digging my nails into it a few times squeezed the juice into the water. It would have the exact same effect, my peaches were potent like that. I would have to be careful of what I said though because I would be drinking it too.  
  
Only now I had a messy peach and nowhere to put it. I sure as anything wasn't going to put it back into my pocket at this rate. I glanced at her to check that she was still preoccupied before quickly eating the rest of the peach. Oh yeah, gotta definitely watch my words. I wrapped the pit in another handkerchief and stuffed it back in my pocket before sucking the juice off my fingers. Finally I grasped the porcelain pitcher, the top now settled neatly in place, and the two cups before walking steadily back to the table.  
  
I poured her a cup first and watched carefully as she pulled a small crock aside which turned out to have sugar in it, and added two spoonfuls. After I poured myself a cupful I repeated her gesture before pushing it back to the center of the table.  
  
"Thank you." She murmured.  
  
I smiled. "You're welcome. I've had trouble, loosing things too." I admitted thinking heavily about Pear.  
  
She looked up from her cup abruptly. "I forgot to introduce myself didn't I, I'm sorry. I'm Sarah Williams. You can call me Sarah"  
  
She extended her hand and grasped mine giving both a firm shake. I stored the ritual for later use. "I'm Alyia."  
  
She looked at me somewhat suspiciously. "Do you have a last name?"  
  
I wanted to lie so badly. "If I do I don't know what it is."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
I really really wanted to lie. "I never really knew my parents I suppose you could call me an orphan."  
  
She reached across and took my hand, a gesture that would be otherwise inappropriate in the underground but here was oddly comforting. "I understand, my mother left us when I was little, and I don't really know my father anymore." She told me somberly.  
  
I smiled halfheartedly. "It must be nice to have known them though, to at least know what they looked like. I've no idea, I might have known as an infant but the memories have long faded." Like over three hundred years. Did I hold a grudge? Oh yes.  
  
"Yeah, I used to know exactly what my mother looked like, now I have to look at pictures to remember."  
  
I nodded. I had no pictures, but I understood and it wasn't lying. "At least your father takes care of you, I had to fend for myself. It was so difficult! I was young inexperienced in the ways of the world (Whoa what an understatement) I didn't know what to do so I ended up doing something a lot of people did."  
  
She leaned forward. "Really what was that?"  
  
I licked my lips and sipped the tea(not too bad, for boiled water). "Well where I am it was a big thing to own an orchard, so that's not what I wanted to do but that's what I did."  
  
She nodded distantly. "Me too. I've wanted to be an actress all my life, but the chances are slim and it's.difficult, a lot more difficult that I thought. Instead I'm working towards becoming a writer, not my first choice but it's better than the others."  
  
"Exactly." She knew what I meant. Time to nudge her in the right direction. "When I was really young, I always wished for a prince or something to come and whisk me away, or that someone would come and find me, just me for something that only I could do. Wasn't going to happen." I sipped some more. "Have you ever had decision like that? Where you have to do what you know is right even though it's not what you really wanted?"  
  
"Yeah." Her voice sounded really hollow. Like she was in denial! Like me. Ohh, kill that train of thought. "Yeah."  
  
"What was it?" I pressed, hoping I didn't sound to eager.  
  
She took a long drink and poured herself another cup, adding more sugar. "Once, someone took..something special to me." She paused, I knew she was fighting the truth peach. If she spoke she'd have to answer the question just like I would. "And when I had the chance to get it back.they offered me something else instead. something I wanted so much.."  
  
There were shadows in her eyes, and wistfulness. Perhaps it wouldn't be that hard to change her mind, if it had never changed in the first place.  
  
"Like something you had responsibility to, and something you wanted?" I asked delicately. Like following royal orders or running off and trying to get the king changed so he would change his answer.  
  
"Yeah, just like that." She took another long gulp. "I of course, took the first." She admitted before her voice fell down to a shaky whisper. "But ever since then I've always wondered what would have happened if I had taken the second. What would have happened if I had said yes, instead of.."  
  
You have no power over me!  
  
".the other choice."  
  
I sipped my own tea, I could feel it seep warmth right down into my stomach. "I know, and you always wonder if you chose right, or if something had been different the other one would have turned out better."  
  
"You understand." She was on the verge of crying again, so was I. Gods above I missed my trees.  
  
I just nodded, I was getting so upset. This wasn't like me at all. Then again, I had never been refused when asking Pear to be returned to me. It was just so.  
  
The tears started to come. "And then you wonder sometimes if you could just undo the whole lot of it, right from the beginning." I covered my eyes, I hadn't cried for so long. It was so embarrassing, I felt so exposed and weak, getting emotional over a decision I already made. I couldn't even undo it now after talking to her.  
  
It was her turn to pat my back now. "It's okay, I understand."  
  
I wiped away the tears. My eyes felt hot, dammit all. "I can't even change it now. You can't change the past, people never change even if circumstance does." I sobbed. In my mind I was already mourning Pear, my tree, my poor pear. I'd miss her so much.  
  
She nodded and sniffed, wiping her nose on my handkerchief to my dismay. I didn't want it back now. "Do you think so? Sometimes I wonder, if.if I could.if he would feel the same. Even after all this time."  
  
That was my cue, and I saw it even though I was half lost in visions of summer days without the smooth branches and comforting presence of Pear. "Sarah, promise me that you'll try to get back what you lost."  
  
She sat bolt upright. "But.!"  
  
I was all act now even though I spoke the truth. "The things you regret in life are always what you don't do, if you wait too long you'll miss the chance forever. If it's about a guy, I can tell you, he probably is feeling just the same way, only too.."  
  
What's a good word to describe his magesty? Pigheaded? Headstrong, stubborn as a mule? What if it gets back to me.damn.  
  
.". prideful to take action. Guys are like that you know." I sniffed again, for effect. "If you do love him.do you love him?"  
  
She nodded morosely.  
  
"If you love him you'll be doing both of you a favor by taking action. Late is better than never."  
  
She nodded, again, this time hopeful. "I promise. Promise me you'll do what you can too."  
  
I smiled weakly. "I promise. And Sarah."  
  
She looked up from her cup, trust glimmering in her eyes. "If you ever need help just call for me okay?"  
  
It was a bit more than I should have given her, already making a promise and all that but I really could relate to this girl. She was in a sense just like me. Only she had a prince charming to go to. Pear I might never get back.  
  
She nodded. "Alright, I promise."  
  
I glanced at a clock. Woah 12 hours only? Weird, did that mean their sunset and sunrise times rotated with the twenty-six hour day? Either way it had the desired effect.  
  
"Oh my gosh! It's already eleven o'clock! I'm sorry, do you want me to walk you home?" she asked worriedly.  
  
I flapped a hand. "It's okay, it's pretty cold out and you really should get Toby into bed."  
  
She giggled a bit. "Yeah, thank goodness my dad and step mom aren't home. They'd totally flip out." She looked me in the eye. "Can we keep this a secret?"  
  
I nodded. "A secret between friends." I glanced at the couch. "and Toby.  
  
She seemed to glow at the words. "A secret between friends. And Toby."  
  
We both burst into giggles for a moment before she led me to the door. Before I left I managed to schedule another meeting at the park where I liked to 'hangout' and we could watch Toby so her parents weren't annoyed.  
  
The walk back to the park was chilly and I ran part of the way under the funny torches that sputtered and glowed with cold light. As soon as I reached the rock a unicorn popped into my mind and I was with my trees again.  
  
After all that had taken place I gave them both teary hugs and then climbed up into Apples branches to sleep as they walked back down to the warmer areas. Even though I didn't feel the cold I still became sick from it. Made no sense at all. 


	4. Conspiracies

I closed the door softly and threw the bolts. Alyia seemed like such a wonderful person, it was kind of odd to find someone I could understand so well from such a bizarre accident like loosing Toby, but at least the evening turned out well. Striding through the kitchen I walked into the living room and picked him out of the blankets, checking his temperature again. He was his usual healthy self so I hoisted him onto my hip and then wrapping my arm around his back began walking up the stairs.  
  
His room was a mess and I waded across the floor for fear of stepping on one of his toys or another but finally arrived at his bed. Throwing back the blankets I laid him on the sheets before wiggling him out of his sweater and jeans and then coaxing him back into his flannel pajamas. Finally, I tucked the blankets back around him and sat down next to him smiling as he instinctively hugged Lancelot to his chest.  
  
He had grown a lot since then, had a chocolaty mop of hair that was growing darker each year, that and his clear blue eyes. He'd be a knockout when he got older. Tousling his hair playfully I walked to my own room.  
  
The mirror shone dully from above the vanity, clearly a poor representation of the friendships I also had. Tiredly I lay back on the bed and recited the words. "Hoggle I need you."  
  
He appeared without dazzle or sparkle, just appeared like he always had for the last three years. Wobbling over to the bed he climbed the small stool set there exactly for that purpose and sat himself on the edge.  
  
"Hello Sarah." He didn't say more than that, and I was grateful. Over the three years we'd come to know each other very well, well enough that I would wait for him to tell me his problems without pressing him and he would do the same for me.  
  
"Hoggle."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What.what would have happened if I had taken his offer."  
  
Hoggle sighed. I knew we'd had been over this before, but I needed to hear it again, needed to question the dead answer just to be sure.  
  
"Jareth may be a jerk but he's a man of his word." He recited.  
  
I licked my lips. "What if years passed? Do you think he'd feel the same?"  
  
Hoggle froze, just as the subtle implications began to sink in. "I don't know."  
  
"Do.do you think he.do you think he would be mad?"  
  
Hoggle thought for a moment before answering. "I don't think so.he might be surprised but he'd probably view it as a win in either case. He would hate to do that sort of thing, I know that much."  
  
I swallowed the lump in my throat willing it not to return and turned the conversation back to safe topics. "So how's the Ludo and Sir Didymus?"  
  
"Oh they're the same as ever, the bridge is rebuilt just a few days ago. Goblins everywhere, Sir Didymus tried to knock them in until they gave him an official document. Ludo actually is at a rock fall now, making friends or whatever he does with them. And as for me it's fairy season again."  
  
I smiled knowingly. "What's the count so far?"  
  
"Three thousand one hundred." He announced proudly.  
  
I smiled and clapped. "You've gone above and beyond Hoggle. I'll have to make you a cookies or something to celebrate. Chocolate chip right?"  
  
"Those are the ones with the funny chocolate lumps right?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Yeah, those are the ones then." He replied nodding vigorously.  
  
"Alright, I think we have the ingredients. Thanks for talking with me, but I better get some sleep or I'll end up hibernating." I joked.  
  
"Har har har. You better not, I want those cookies." He replied amiably.  
  
"Yes Hoggle, g'night."  
  
"Goodnight Sarah."  
  
"Say hello to Ludo and Sir Didymus if you see them please."  
  
"Yeah yeah."  
  
Without any flash he simply disappeared again, and reaching up above my head I flicked off the light switch.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Alyia (in the labyrinth)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I awoke as soon as the sun began to rise. Reaching out a hand I groped for one of the soft firm peaches muttering threats to Apple if it turned out to be enchanted. Apple laughed, shaking her leaves so that they fluttered and hissed against each other. The two trees began wandering back up the mountain to the teleport. I've never so keenly felt the lack of Pear. She wouldn't have liked the journey but there was a distinct lack of her there that ached in me. Apple seemed to understand because she gave me another peach, this one imbued with content something she normally didn't do but was appreciated for all the same.  
  
I gave them hugs again, gave them the knives, since I'd probably be gone for a while, and thought of bicycles.  
  
Sarah looked particularly torn this morning. Kind of like she wanted to talk about last night but didn't know how to without being rude. I had lots of experience with that though, so I went ahead and did it for her.  
  
"Remember you promised me last night. I've already started on mine."  
  
She nodded eagerly. "I wanted to ask you about that."  
  
We sat down on 'swings' and began 'swinging' back and forth lazily.  
  
"Hmmm..how do I put this." she muttered. Then suddenly a light came to her eyes, a cautious one but a brilliant one all the same. "Have you read the book Labyrinth?" Not really, but I don't think I had to, to know what was in it. And I was no longer under the effects of my peach. "Yeah." I let anger and agitation creep into my voice.  
  
She slowed a little on the swings. "Do you know the Goblin King.?"  
  
"Jareth? Yeah." I put definite wariness into my response.  
  
That got her attention. "Alyia have you.?"  
  
I didn't want to lie, because then I'd have to remember it so I thought of a comprimise. "You too!?!" I asked with obvious surprise, and then in a more resigned tone. "Yeah, he's refused to return something to me as well." Pear.  
  
She was off the swing in an instant, and clutching the chains of the swing staring me right in the eye, not inches away. "Honestly, did you wish one of your siblings away?"  
  
I closed my eyes, it was getting harder and harder to stay on the truth here. "He wears a golden amulet alright?"  
  
"Did you get your brother or sister back?"  
  
"No, he refused to return my baby."  
  
She sat down abruptly in the grass at my feet her eyes flickering back and forth as she thought. "Did he.what did he say to you just before you left?"  
  
I racked my brain for a moment. "No one said life was fair, is fair. Something like that."  
  
"Did he say anything else?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Then what happened."  
  
"Well.that was it."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
I frowned a little. "Why should you be sorry it's not like you.did you.beat the Labyrinth?"  
  
She nodded, a bit guiltily. "I wished Toby away, three years ago."  
  
"Wait..wait just a minute. So last night..when we..were you.?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
I slumped heavily in the swing, I really should be an actor. "Wow." I started laughing, just because it did seem kind of ridiculous, that I was here and she was here, and we'd both been to the Labyrinth, and she didn't already suspect something. I suppose since I'd admitted to loosing something that would help.  
  
"So what should I do, you've dealt with him too right?" she asked.  
  
I tapped my chin. Already knowing my answer. "Well.I suppose you'd have to get back underground for a start."  
  
She nodded. "Then I'd have to manage to see him somehow."  
  
"Why not go right up to the castle? If it's anything like other books I've read he probably has petitioners daily right?"  
  
"Right, so then I suppose I'd go up and ask to stay."  
  
"Only more formally." I urged, getting excited. The girl had it right on. "It's gotta sound impressive, he's a king right?"  
  
"Yes!" She agreed. Then pointing upwards with her pointer she exclaimed. "I've got it! I'll ask for honorary Labyrinth citizenship!"  
  
I clapped my hands. The cards loved me in this game. "Yes! Only minus the honorary, what are you going to tell him when he asks why though?"  
  
She stilled resting her hands on the ground as she thought. "Good question. I suppose I could mention something about dreams, that's what he offered me you know. My dreams."  
  
I'd have to send her late in the day so too many didn't witness this blatant show of affection. "What do people usually go to a foreign country for, I mean it can't be that different right?"  
  
"Well work and jobs and sanctuary but I don't need that."  
  
"Why don't you ask for the work then, ask for a job. What are you good at?"  
  
"Well I like to read." she admitted.  
  
"How about a teacher then? You could read up on the subject then teach it, or a librarian.or a story teller." I was at a loss. Maybe the petitioner idea isn't such a great idea. I suppose I could have her get into trouble on the way to it though.and she would naturally call out.he always hears when his name is mentioned. I don't think he could miss her.  
  
"A librarian would be best I think. That way I could learn about the underground too." She decided vibrantly.  
  
I was getting excited too. "So how are you going to get there though?"  
  
She smiled at me slyly. "I've got connections."  
  
That tore the ground right from under me. To cover my horror I squealed, a very girlish noise, and very false sounding but she ate it up, giggling with me. "This is so 'cool' it's just like a continuation of the book."  
  
Oh no, I'd have to find them now, and give them information or lead them astray.something so they'd present the same view to her as I did. Otherwise I might loose her trust for good. That would ruin everything.  
  
Then if she did get comfortable with the King she'd hunt me down, and if she didn't he'd hunt me down. It was better to remain the supportive mortal friend. Yeah.  
  
Back to business. "Out of curiosity, who are your friends?" I asked. Then to take off the suspicious edge. "I made a friend too. Three.. actually."  
  
She smiled warmly, understandingly. Except that I was lying so she couldn't possibly. "Hoggle, the dwarf, he's a gardener for the de-fairy's the gate, Ludo, he's a big hairy thing but perfectly harmless, and Sir Didymus, he's the bog's bridge guard."  
  
"Ulgh the bog, I've no wish to remember that place." I commented. I glanced at the clock tower just visible above the trees. "Ahh, I've got to go again. I'm always in such a rush." I told her, rolling my eyes.  
  
She smiled and nodded. "Yeah I've got to get Toby back."  
  
"Okay." I walked ahead and knelt down to where he was. "Who talks with her the most?" I whispered. "Hoggle, Ludo, or Didymus?"  
  
"Hoggle." He whispered with a wink.  
  
"Bye Toby." I ruffled his hair and then waved at Sarah as I trotted deeper into the park and nearly leapt on the rock. Apple and Kestrel leapt apart at once, hiding the knives behind their trunks with obviously guilty auras. I could hear the clash of metal still ringing in my ears.  
  
"Don't prune each other or anything." I muttered. "You can keep the knives, but I need them now and then you know."  
  
They hummed agreement as I swung up into Kestrel. "We need to get to the gate, pronto."  
  
There was a little bit of disagreement. The gate wasn't the most wonderful place in the world but that's where we needed to go, and go before Sarah called on him again.  
  
"It seems we must consult dwarf hoggle on his de-fairying expertise." I told them fluttering a pretend fan and pretending to gossip. "This-a-way they can inform Miss Williams most accurately. Rumors are such atrocious things." 


	5. means to an end

The gate to the Labyrinth moves. It is actually a whole lot harder to get out of the Labyrinth than it is to get into the Labyrinth. Which is why the population keeps growing I imagine. Either way, if you think getting to the center is difficult, getting out is doubly so, in fact finding your way in that first ring of wall is probably the most difficult yet.  
  
The back of the Labyrinth doors are actually painted to look like just another part of the wall. If you're not watching carefully the outer wall will move past you too, so that you can walk the whole perimeter of the Labyrinth and completely miss it by the first five steps. Even for citizens of the Labyrinth, it's a difficult feat.  
  
In the end I wound up talking to the wall moss to find the way. It turned out to be only a couple feet behind us, you have no idea the level of embarrassment that causes. Finding the dwarf after that was an easy task, asking him was more difficult.  
  
"Hey! You're the de-fairy person right?"  
  
He was short and stout and carrying too many glittery things for anyone outside the Labyrinth. Inside you're safe from thieves, not outside though.  
  
"Yeah, what of it?"  
  
Gruff was right. "Does that spray harm the bushes? I've got some fairies in a tree of mine, what do you use as far as the stuff goes?"  
  
This got his attention. Nothing works like asking for help, although it takes a bite out of your pride. "Wells ya see, I use the natural water from fiery forest since the two hate each other."  
  
"Does it hurt the plants? Fiery forest is a bit.chaotic."  
  
"Yeah, well. Here outside it don't matter as much. If you really worry about it, you can use the stuff I do. It's special I get it free from his majesty himself."  
  
"Wow really? Can I have some?" I asked sweetly. "His majesty's been all out of sorts lately. The Labyrinths been changing, and streams rerouting themselves, crazy as anything. Seems kind of reckless to me, he really needs to get married or something. He's been moping about since.what's her name."  
  
"Sarah?" he asked trying to appear uncaring as he picked up the same bottle for the third time.  
  
"Yeah that girl." I replied stretching out on Kestrel's branch. "Really put him off I guess. Dang how I wish things could get back to normal."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. Me too." He muttered. "Ah here you go."  
  
I watched with amusement as he pulled the same bottle out that he had been shifting around in the head sized bag. I struggled not to grin as I leaned down between the cleft in the two branches to take it from him. "Hey thanks, good luck on your de-fairying."  
  
Kestrel was lumbering away when I heard him mutter. "The king can't marry any but fae though."  
  
We were back in the Labyrinth and everyone sighed with relief once we were past that first narrow hallway. Me because it meant I had gotten away with it, them because the stone hurt their roots. The new issue had arose though, to marry a fae king you had to be fae. I could have hit myself. Actually I did, because it was just such an obvious thing that I shouldn't have missed.  
  
Well duh, otherwise you get crossbreed kids and that means trolls. Most of the darker sides of the fae were products of a cross species coupling. This would never work if she was human and I knew his majesty wouldn't become human himself, because his responsibility to the kingdom. So Sarah would have to become a fae.  
  
That would require a shitload of power.  
  
Power that you-know-who didn't have.  
  
I knew someone who might though. But.  
  
But.  
  
I started down the steps with a torch the instant the clock hit twelve. Twelve, not thirteen was the witching hour. So many people forgot that, but it had always been twelve when magic was at its weakest, most frail, and most breachable. I wasn't going to tempt fate though, by using a magical light in a place that was completely devoid of magic, and devoid of magic for a good reason.  
  
The cold glassy black stone felt like ice under my bare feet. I knew it was light crystal completely stripped of it's magic and loosing it's bright blue glow in the process to leave a hollow black tinted shell. I hoped I didn't have enough magic from the peaches to trigger an alarm, or let him get loose.  
  
Kaeun was kept here. Imprisoned in the dark crystal temple, made specifically for him by the council, and Jareth.  
  
Kaeun was the only fae to kill another fae. A fae lady too, Jareth's betrothed to be specific. They had imprisoned him here to pay for his crime, but they wouldn't kill him to repeat the sacrilege that he had committed. Jareth's betrothed, the Lady Issais was the most powerful in the underground. Kaeun was her playmate as a child, they grew up together. When he found out that she was betrothed to Jareth, he killed her rather than let Jareth have her.  
  
He really brought to light the darker side to fae, but to kill lady Issais whom was rumored to be untouchable. He probably could have destroyed the council if they hadn't acted so swiftly.  
  
My next step met level, the stairs had ended. My torch brought into sharp relief the inside of the chamber. It was like a cylinder with thirteen columns in a ring around the center where a lone column stood. All of it laboriously cut out of drained crystal. No grass or plants grew for a five- mile radius from here. It would take me all night to walk back to the Labyrinth.  
  
It was forbidden to be here.  
  
It was forbidden to see him.  
  
It was forbidden to talk to him.  
  
It was forb-Pear. And Sarah.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
My voice disappeared almost instantly, as if the crystal soaked it up. I was on the verge of declaring his death and running out of there. If it had echoed I probably would have run, the fact that it didn't was a definite sign I should have run. I didn't.  
  
"Hello." I nearly jumped out of my skin. It was just as I thought it would sound, calm and confident, but curious too. Not surprised. That shook me most of all.  
  
"Where are you?" I whispered lifting the torch higher and glancing around. I couldn't see him anywhere, in fact now that I thought about it I didn't know if he was tied to the floor or merely trapped in the room which meant he could be behind me. Hastily I backtracked a couple feet until I was back on the steps.  
  
"In the center column."  
  
I was from the tricking land, I could tell he wasn't lying. Slowly, cautiously I moved forward, ever muscle ready to drop everything and flee at a moment's notice. I noticed then that the center column wasn't smooth. In fact when he had said 'in the center column' he had told the exact truth.  
  
He was embedded halfway into the pillar of black crystal. Crystal flowed over his upper arms and shoulders as well as his ankles and upper thighs. He was seamlessly part of the structure, and there was no way to break drained crystal. I felt sorry for him, but only a little bit.  
  
"Are you surprised?" he asked softly.  
  
I shook my head. "A little but I suppose I should have expected something like this considering what you did."  
  
"Considering what they think I did." He corrected.  
  
I stared at him, he stared back. If that's the way he wants it. I stuffed the torch into a holder meant for a pole torch but it worked.  
  
"I've got a question."  
  
"And you think I have the answer?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well what's the question?"  
  
"How do you change a human into a fae?"  
  
"Why do you want to know?"  
  
"A.friend of mine, is human. They're afraid of dying."  
  
"If you don't tell me the truth I won't help you."  
  
Oh man! If he ever got out he would know it was me then. "A friend of mine, is human."  
  
I took a deep breath, may this never come back to me. "She loves a fae, fae can only marry."  
  
"Another fae." He finished.  
  
"Yes." I confirmed. "Sooo.."  
  
"Well.it requires a lot of power and a specific ritual."  
  
"What are they?" I pressed.  
  
He tried to shrug and found that he couldn't simply waved a hand. "I don't remember."  
  
"WHAT?" I flung my arms into the air. "You don't remember? You're supposed to be the most powerful fae to exist, ever! You were the only one strong enough to even kill the Lady Issais when none of the others could even scratch her!"  
  
"I didn't kill her."  
  
I stopped mid rant. "If you didn't then why are you here?"  
  
"They were afraid of me."  
  
"Obviously, if you killed her and since she was-"  
  
"They feared me because I was powerful enough to, not because I did."  
  
"So then if you didn't why is she dead?"  
  
"Because she was in love."  
  
"With Jareth, and that's why-"  
  
"Because she wasn't in love with Jareth."  
  
I sat down on the floor and then immediately stood as the cold began to seep into my skin. "I don't understand, explain."  
  
"How well do you know the story?"  
  
"As well as the next person."  
  
"Very well. She was in love with another. As you know, she was from a long line of high elves, who are very devout and loyal when it comes to love. Issais was incredibly powerful when she helped make the underground for which all know her, she had a lover then, not me." he added pointedly.  
  
"So why did she get betrothed then?"  
  
"He died while the fae were sealing off the aboveground two thousand years ago. When the fight for the dominance of the council arose and Jareth, helped enormously by strategically crushing the dark empire and forcing them to form separate countries, banishing the evilest of the opposition, the council figured a fitting reward would be a bride seeing how with his kingdom and status no well born lady would want to marry him. Lady Issais had enough leverage to refuse all marriages that her father imposed for the diplomacy of the elves, but she could not refuse.  
  
".the council for rewarding the hero of the war. Jareth."  
  
"Correct. Elvish love is deep, especially that of the high elves. Issais expected to spend the rest of her life mourning her lover but continuing on eventually to become regent when her father decided to retire. To marry again would according to elvish customs dishonor her dead lover. She would rather die than lessen him any."  
  
My breath was caught in my throat.  
  
"And she did." He stated flatly.  
  
"Being her closest friend and companion, she told me of her last wishes and the reason for her death before she gave herself the fatal wound. I waited until she passed and then summoned the guards as she had bid me to. I had a magically imbued parchment that had her written confession on it. Apparently, they couldn't find another problem to wed to a king they despised for being indebted to. They weren't happy Jareth had ended the war, they wanted to, and the fact that a country representing tricks cleverness had to intervene to end it for them. It was a great thorn in their side. However, all the other kings refused to offer up their daughters, Issais had scared them enough that they didn't want her to become a regent, and so would have sent her off. No others posed this threat however, so instead of having Issais suicide."  
  
"They had her murdered." I whispered.  
  
"And who better to pin the blame on than the messenger who was just as powerful and had the same rebellious views."  
  
"But wouldn't the elvish King have taken your side? What about the magical note?"  
  
"Destroyed, he wanted no quarrel with the new council."  
  
"So all this time."  
  
"Scapegoat, is the term I believe."  
  
"Oh.so where can I find how to get enough power and the ritual?"  
  
"Aboveground."  
  
"Aboveground? Why up there?"  
  
"Because that's where Issais died and left her journal."  
  
"I thought you said she took her own life in the underground."  
  
"She did, she made herself a mortal because. . ."  
  
"Fae can only marry fae." 


	6. The first step

I ran all the way back to the Labyrinth facts and rumors crunching together in my mind until I had a faint idea of what to do. Kestrel and Apple raced me back to the alpine forest while I ate a rejuvenating peach and got some sleep. Waking was more difficult than entering the black crystal temple. I pocketed a couple extra peaches for my search of Aboveground and called to mind the bicycle image.  
  
I ran all the way to Sarah and Toby's house but stopped before I got there. Unusual things were surrounding the house, and soldiers in uniform were sauntering around the house and surrounding area. Worried I ran up the steps, telling one of them that I was a friend.  
  
Inside I found Mr and Mrs Williams sitting in the living room with Toby, the only dry eyed one of the three.  
  
"Who are you?" Mrs Williams demanded. Rubbing already red eyes. I considered giving her one of the healing peaches, but decided against it as she gave me a very sharp look.  
  
"I'm a friend of Sarah's" I replied defensively. I could understand what she meant now, but being separate from her parents. Gosh they were cold enough to preserve meat. They seemed suspicious still but Toby came to my rescue, leaping off the couch and running over to clutch my leg.  
  
"She's Sarah's friend." He told them stubbornly. They apparently thought him too young to lie though, because they immediately softened. I heaved the four-year old so that he was sitting on my waist.  
  
"Where's Sarah Toby?" I whispered.  
  
"She went to the Underground." He replied.  
  
"How?" I hissed.  
  
"She took Hoggle's hand and she said 'if you ever need me just call' and then they disappeared. Just like that."  
  
Damn, things were going faster than I'd planned. I needed to arrange an accident, a sleeping peach would do. One from Kestrel would be strong enough to knock her out permanently if magical aid was not used in the wake up. There weren't that many who could remove peach magic, only his majesty really and Hoggle worked for him directly. I would just have to hope he didn't find out it was my peach. Yep that would be bad. He might stuff me halfway into a crystal for messing with his new bride.  
  
I shivered at the thought.  
  
Poor Kaeun I should do something about him. I'd have to add it to my 'to do' list. One: get Pear back, two: arrange for Sarah to be saved by his majesty, three: release Kaeun from unbreakable black crystal. Boy did I have my work cut out for me. And it was all Isabelle's fault!  
  
This of course not including the minor tasks of arranging for a pleasant accident, have his majesty fall in love if not otherwise endeared with Sarah, find Issais's diary, cast magic spell on Sarah to make her mortal, somehow get the magic to cast the spell, prove Kaeun's innocence and find some way to break unbreakable black crystal.  
  
And for the 'to not do' list, One: don't get caught, two: don't get caught, three: don't get caught. I think you can pretty much guess how the rest of the list goes.  
  
"Do you know where Sarah is?"  
  
I snapped out of my reverie. "No, I actually came here to talk. I thought she might want to discuss another book."  
  
Mrs Williams scowled. "She's always got her nose in those books, and has no friends at all, no boyfriends, no extra activities. I told you Robert she's not acting like a normal girl I told you we should have sent her to a psychologists!"  
  
I mentally ground my teeth at the no friends part and whispered to Toby that she looked like a goose when she was angry. He agreed with me.  
  
So Sarah was back in the underground huh? Well, I suppose I'd have to get back there pretty quick if I was going to arrange for an accident before she reached the Goblin city.  
  
"I want to be out there." Mr. Williams insisted to an officer. "I want to know what's happening."  
  
I hoisted Toby again and gave him a sly wink. "Mr and Mrs Williams? Would you like for me to watch Toby for a while? Sarah and I would take him to the park all the time." I offered hoping I didn't sound too eager.  
  
Mr. Williams looked at me thoughtfully. "That would be helpful, could I have your name and number so we can contact you?"  
  
I nodded. "Lemme write it down for you."  
  
I wandered over to a side table where a small notepad was lying and pulled it forward. Toby reached over and grabbed a fancy looking stick, handing it to me and pointing at the paper. I scrawled Alyia in snort neat strokes and then paused, looking at Toby for instruction.  
  
"Two, two, three, one, nine, seven, five." I wrote with his dictation. Smiling broadly I ripped it off and handed it to Mr. Williams. Then I readjusted Toby's weight and with easy long strides walked out of the house. To my relief none of the uniformed men followed me as I walked back to the park.  
  
"Hey Toby?"  
  
"How do you feel like another trip to the Underground."  
  
He just grinned.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jareth (Goblin Castle)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I felt her the moment she entered my realm. One for the fact that she did not belong, appearing suddenly just inside the bog instead of walking through the gate like a sane person, second because in a way she did belong her presence at once familiar and distinct in the Labyrinth. Sarah.  
  
If anything could both excite and annoy me at once it was her. And she was back, three years from when she had turned down my offer, and left. I had thought, she had left for good. Just like all other failures I'd reviewed it in my mind, critiqued my mistakes and vowed never to make them again while burying the event out of sight and out of mind.  
  
It was a wound opened again, but a relished one. She had a youthfulness about her, a liveliness that somehow radiated out to make everything more vibrant. I registered that the dwarf, again, Haggle was leading her towards the city. After a few moments I felt the bridge guardian meet up with them.  
  
And then my ears picked up on my name, or at least, one of my titles.  
  
"His majesty does what is just." That was the guardian.  
  
"Yeah but often what is just is dependant on his mood." The dwarf.  
  
"I guess we'll just have to see what mood he's in then." Sarah.  
  
She was coming to see me. After all these years, to ask for something. Her audacity will never cease to amaze me. I settled another land argument and forming a crystal called for Bryn.  
  
Bryn appeared almost instantly at my left shoulder, seeming to detach himself from the shadows. He wore all black and metal armor peaked out from various gaps in the fabric. When I was in particularly bad moods I had him and Kenst stand on either side of me. It made the petitions go so much faster. It wasn't always a good thing to intimidate my citizens out of their minds though.  
  
Bryn was my Master of the Guard. He trained and lead the other powerful fae that were drawn to my realm and organized the ones who wished to serve into patrols which were immediately implemented. After which he'd join me in my study to drink brandy and moan about the stubbornness of the troops while I moaned about the endless lines of petitions and the continuous decay of the Labyrinth, which had to be fixed almost daily now and Kenst just stood there and watched us.  
  
Kenst was my personal guard. Although, instead of black he dresses completely in dark gray. Why? I don't know, he didn't talk although he was a superb fighter and I often train with him myself for practice. He's at my right shoulder, he's always at my right shoulder. He doesn't take orders, he defends and protects me. That is all he does, and it is all I've ever asked him to do.  
  
I never actually asked in the first place unusually enough.  
  
Bryn leaned down and I turned my head just marginally. "She's here, watch her."  
  
That was all it took, he pivoted and was gone again. The next petitioner stepped forward and began a long tirade about the fierys harassing his horses. I couldn't do much about the fiery's without ordering them executed or permanently dismantled. It was a silly, redundant case, much like most of them. Only now I had something more interesting to do. I could feel her getting closer with each step. Flashing a toothy grin I beckoned Kenst forward into the light.  
  
Things began to go more quickly after that.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hoggle (Wall above the Bog) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Sarah and I appeared back on the wall above the bog. I didn't suppose she remembered that this was the place she had kissed me, or that that was why I was sent back to this place every single time I returned, but I wasn't about to tell her. Things had to go carefully if she wanted to go through with this, which I didn't think was such a great idea, but once she got something into her head.that was it.  
  
This time we could take a more leisurely path to the castle, since the wall ran halfway, but nope. She wanted to stop and say hello to Didymus so we had to go through the pond mazes, treacherous things but Sarah liked them. They get kind of annoying after you've fallen in a few times. Especially when the water sprites are active. Like today.  
  
After all these years she still didn't trust my judgment on these things. I ran across like it was smart to do but no, she perked up at the mention of water fairies. By the time she caught up with me she was soaked clear through. We trudged to Sir Didymus's, she was silent most of the way, but probably because she was looking around rather than sulking. Sarah didn't do that much anymore.  
  
I took care to point all sorts of things out that she might have missed on her last visit. Flower sprites, gnomes, gargoyles, trick streams and now and then other citizens of the Labyrinth that we ran across. Here a family of pickpockets, there a clever healer's hut. I even saw two peach trees walking ahead of us with a young maiden and an even younger boy sitting easily in the branches.  
  
When we got to the bog itself, Sir Didymus was waiting, and Sarah was famished. I began to have an incredible sense of déjà vu. The peach tree owner had actually given Didymus fruit for passing three peaches, one apple.  
  
Sarah immediately nabbed the apple, can't say I didn't blame her. She crossed by way of the rocks while Didymus and I used the bridge, she didn't want a reoccurrence of last time and we didn't want to be close to the bog. We were sitting in a small clearing on the edge of a precipice while Didymus got his bearings when Sarah began to feel woozy. She had just begun to eat the apple a few moments ago, commenting on how good apples tasted in comparison to peaches.  
  
"I know the way now!" Sir Didymus exclaimed. "The Labyrinth may move but the destination shall not. Did you know that the Castle never actually moves Lady Sarah? The entire Labyrinth moves around it."  
  
She shook her head smiling. "No I didn't. It'll be interesting to see if it changed though." She braced and arm against the tree she was leaning on but faltered and fell against it. A frown crept across her face as she struggled to sit up.  
  
I was worried by now, suspecting treachery by Jareth again. It had to be coincidence that fruit just happened to be dropped of just before we got to Didymus. "Sarah? Are you alright?"  
  
I walked over and took her hand trying to pull her upright. Humans are a lot bigger than dwarves though, and her eyelids were fluttering.  
  
"Hoggle.so tired.can't seem to stay awake."  
  
"My Lady!" Sir Didymus cried. "I had no idea! I'll catch that scoundrel of a grove owner if it's the last thing I do, and her little friend too!"  
  
"This feels different...than last time." she commented weakly.  
  
I patted her hand comfortingly. "It's okay Sarah, it's probably only a sleeping peach, a simple mistake. Grove owners are kind of kooky like that."  
  
"Hoggle.I."  
  
It was then the royal guard appeared.  
  
The royal guard never run in, or jump down, they always just appear and this time they just appeared all around us, including Master of the Guard Bryn himself. The royal guard is Jareth's personal army. About two thousand fae exceedingly talented in both physical combat and magical duels. They do pretty much whatever Jareth wants them to do, from standing guard on the border to assassinations. Or so I've heard.  
  
You can always tell a royal guard though, they wear a sandy gold cloak of the same color of the Labyrinth over a pure black tunic and trousers with an iron plated sword on their left hip and three bags of magical stuff on their right. They all wear black leather gloves and black leather boots. They've all sworn life oaths to his majesty. It's a longstanding profession.  
  
Either way, seeing the royal guard was enough to send Didymus into a state of shock. I'm not the most courageous dwarf either but not as cowardly as before. I managed to back up into Sarah, blocking her from them somewhat. At least until Bryn himself came forward. All black, that was all it took to recognize a man I'd never met before.  
  
Black hair, black eyes, boots, tunic, wraparound cloak, gloves and the black metal of his sword hilt. At the moment his expression was also very black. I backed to the side, no one argues with Bryn. He trains the guard, in magic and swordsmanship as well as knife fighting. He's a man you don't want to meet on a sunny day in a meadow.  
  
Didymus was quivering with shock and I was just standing there astounded while the Master of the Guard approached Sarah, checked her pulse and temperature and then quickly and easily lifted her in his arms. All it took from him was two pointed glances, and Sir Didymus and I were also taken hold of. They also picked up the apple core. Then we were transported to the castle. 


	7. As the dominos fall

I've never liked magic.  
  
That's not true, I've always liked magic. Just never when it's been cast on me without my knowledge or consent. I hadn't expected it, although I suppose I should have. One damn apple in a handful of peaches. It was set there precisely with me in mind I knew. As soon as I felt the pressure, a heavy weight on my consciousness I knew something was wrong. It had felt a lot like the last time, which I could suddenly remember with the greatest clarity.  
  
Only it was a lot less, ornamental, if you can call magic that. The first time, it was all very complicated and I didn't know what was going to happen. This time I did, it was subtle at first, very subtle, a faint tiredness that I figured would be the result of so much walking. The apple tasted wonderful too, not at all like the strange peach from last time, but sweet and juicy and refreshing. One of the best I'd ever tasted.  
  
Then I turned to look at the vista. According to Hoggle, the Labyrinth moved constantly but sometimes a lot more than others and this was one of those times. They knew how to get through individual pieces but had to find out which pieces to get through in order to get to the castle. So we stopped while Sir Didymus went ahead a little to plot out a course of action. I was staring at all the little pieces of the maze.  
  
They looked a lot like a patchwork quilt from this high, I could see the pond mazes and waterways that cut through the various square gardens or blocks of Labyrinth. It reminded me much of one of those little puzzle games where there's one free square and you have to move the different pieces back and forth with only that one square of margin. If I looked carefully I could see the tiles of the Labyrinth slowly moving across the land.  
  
I had been watching so intently I hadn't heard what Hoggle said until Sir Didymus came trotting back on Ambrosious and announced he knew the way. I tried to push off the tree and found that, to my surprise I was too weak to get up. Pushing off the ground didn't work either, and then I realized I couldn't open my eyes farther than halfway.  
  
In fact, it was getting more and more difficult to understand what Hoggle was saying. Sir Didymus was becoming incredibly agitated and Ambrosious was trotting around in frantic circles. I tried to tell them, I was only going to sleep, tried to ask why. Never got that far.  
  
The pressing weight which I've come to realize was the spell enveloped me. It was like I was disconnected from my body, simply unplugged and shoved to the back, from inside. The pressure took up a layer of air between me and the front of my body so that I couldn't reach my eyes to blink or my hands to twitch, I just couldn't.  
  
For a while I struggled against the weight spell, and then suddenly I felt cracks forming in it. This definitely seemed like a good omen, so I pushed it more and then abruptly it broke. I sat up and opened my eyes.  
  
There was Jareth. Right in front of me. I blinked a few times, took a deep breath and counted to ten. He was still there, grinning. And since he was grinning I scowled. I certainly didn't think it was very funny.  
  
He had his leather gloves back on before I even realized they were off. Then he was standing and talking in a hushed whisper with a man clad entirely in black, both of them kept glancing my way. I retained the scowl for a while until I realized I was laying in a bed. I still had all my clothes on but being in a bed was pretty embarrassing on it's own. Especially in front of them.  
  
I threw back the covers and stood, giving the plain but serviceable for poster my best glare.  
  
"Well well well, welcome back Sarah." He smirked.  
  
"Hello, Jareth." I replied just as sarcastically.  
  
"Might I ask why you are in my realm this time? I don't recall giving you permission to visit." He noted to himself.  
  
"That's because you didn't, and I don't intend to visit." I snapped back. Perhaps this wasn't such a good idea, he was still the jerk I'd always remembered him as. Only now it was doubly insulting because there was that other man just standing there watching us with something akin to polite interest. His detachment made me want to slap him. He was listening in and not even bothering to take a side; at least if he supported Jareth I'd know how to act. "May I ask why I'm here? I don't recall asking to be knocked out and brought to the castle."  
  
"But this was where you were headed." He pointed out.  
  
How much did he know? "That doesn't excuse the sleeping apple." I also pointed out.  
  
A frown flickered across his face, and he and the other man met gazes for a moment. "That wasn't any of my doing."  
  
"No? Then why am I here?"  
  
"I was the only one who could remove the spell." He reasoned. "Apparently someone wanted your presence known to me. Not all of them are so easily swayed from their loyalty as your friends."  
  
"Why would they want to do that though?"  
  
"Because they thought you were an intruder or a threat." He stated bluntly.  
  
"I wouldn't harm anyone!" I protested. Well not that much, and only if they attacked first.  
  
"They had good reason to think so, remembering your last visit I think the list went something like: abuse of fierys, one caved in wall, graffiti, assault against a goblin platoon, and oh yes, one broken bridge." He ticked off his fingers then waved the five digits at her. "Your record isn't exactly stainless Sarah my dear." He crooned.  
  
"Those were all in self defense or accidents." I retorted, "I did nothing that was intentionally cruel, like some people."  
  
That may have not been the brightest thing to say, seeing that there were two of them against me but it sure felt good. Thankfully all the childish nervousness and intimidation that had come from him was gone. I could see exactly who he was now, with only the slightest hesitation at saying it aloud.  
  
His mouth quirked, and he made a soothing gesture to the man at his side. I just realized that he had drawn his sword at my comment. He looked.serious, cold. It was sheathed without complaint and he left the room silently. The door swung shut behind him seemingly of it's own will, and all the nervousness and intimidation came flooding back with interest.  
  
"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah." He was adjusting his gloves, I couldn't help but think about when they do that in movies, just before they kill you. "We don't seem to be getting anywhere like this. If you didn't know, I am a King of a kingdom. That means, I have to ensure their safety as much as they protect me. If you've come here with any threat to its well being."  
  
The threat hung in the air, lingering with my imagination fueling the ending. "I didn't come to do harm. I came to fix something."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jareth(you should know)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
It was the last thing I'd expected her to say. No, dismiss that, it was the next to last thing I expected her to say. The last thing I expected followed that statement.  
  
"I'm sorry if I wronged you, all those years ago. I had a responsibility to Toby, it wasn't a decision I could make and still respect myself after."  
  
I'm not one who likes surprises much, this one was a pleasant surprise but I do believe warning could have substantially improved my reaction. I stood there and stared, halted halfway through pulling my right glove straight and shifting my weight onto my left foot. She squirmed under my gaze but I didn't care. I was wondering if it was possible that this was a different girl entirely and someone was playing a grand joke on me, or if she had somehow miraculously just admitted a passive sort of defeat.  
  
I was seventy before I was fully able to realize I could be wrong. I still have trouble apologizing. I raised a hand to her forehead, using magic to determine her health. Obviously, I couldn't feel her temperature through leather gloves.  
  
She batted my hand away. "I'm not sick." She snapped huffily.  
  
I caught her hand and planted a kiss on it. "Apology accepted." I crooned before sweeping out the door. Anything to unnerve the opponent. Once out of her sight I told the door to not let her out or anyone else in.  
  
I turned to Kenst who had followed me out, and I believe escaped Sarah's vision entirely. Most people bypassed him entirely. "I do believe I need a brandy." I told him stoically. He nodded once, the gray hood shifting just perceptibly.  
  
So said, I strode down the hall towards my personal study where I resolved to come to a conclusion about the Sarah issue which had just arisen over all the issues that I already had to deal with. Brandy would help, it often did.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Alyia(In the Labyrinth)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Toby and I high-fived each other and then I gave Apple a huge hug. It had been a tall order, a sleeping peach that tasted, smelled and looked like an apple. She had come through beautifully. Sarah's hate of peaches helped a lot too. Being the only apple in the rest of the normal peaches she had plucked it right out of the four, no hesitation whatsoever. I was so proud of Apple and told her so.  
  
Sarah was with Jareth, that was good, she'd be safe there. Now I would probably have to return Toby his parent's would be getting rather upset around now. I could tell the I had begun walking him home and we had gotten lost, if they were unhappy. Apparently, the number I wrote down was for someone down the street, they could leave a message on a machine, something like a technologically advanced note. That's what Toby told me anyway.  
  
His parents arrived at their house just as we did, and the tired Toby fell asleep as I was thanked and given some money. Funky green paper was their form of coinage apparently. Nothing sensible like gold or silver but paper. I would think it was a poor place, except for their houses were enormous. Sarah must be rich, her yard had seven trees and a forest. Amazing.  
  
Now that Jareth and Sarah were stuffed back together I could go ask for my tree again. It would be wonderful to have Pear back. With all the sneaking around Kestrel and Apple were really beginning to corrupt me, in the last few days I'd traveled back and forth from the mortal world, entered a forbidden area, drugged a mortal after tricking her back underground and illegally distributed a magical peach for reasons other than decree of the crown. I felt like such a rebel.  
  
I could get Pear back now though, Jareth should be back to normal after a few days. Then perhaps I could so something about Kaeun's unjust imprisonment with all three of my trees backing me. And then..Oh no! Taxes were in a few days! I had to get a basket of my best peaches ready for his majesty!  
  
One quarter of my earnings were due, and I didn't even have Pear to pay from. That Isabelle better not hurt her! I'd go check on her in fact. Right now.  
  
The moonlight was enough to see Pear by easily. She still had that ring around her trunk staking her to the ground. Luckily she was well away from the other trees. Her fruit was withered and too small. Obviously she was giving Isabelle a hard time. I stroked her trunk.  
  
"Don't worry I'm gonna get you back soon. Then we'll all be together again." I hugged her trunk and darted back into the Labyrinth where Apple and Kestrel were. Swinging up easily into Apple we started off towards the castle. If I could speed their get together Pear would be back sooner. 


	8. Books and Brandy

I bought a dark thick cloak off one of the shops in the Goblin city, trading a single peach for the floor long hooded cloak. It would no doubt be of good use. I also bought a set of lock picks. I didn't know anything about picking locks but the present was always a good time to start.  
  
The castle was easy enough to get into the king didn't do anything for himself. The castle was mainly for aesthetic purposes. Otherwise he could just have a villa in the center of the labyrinth. No it was for massive amounts of guests, and show. Supposedly if the kingdom came under siege the whole of the Labyrinth could retreat into the castle. Supposedly.  
  
I entered through the kitchens, dropping off a few peaches and intercepting enough food to keep me content for the night. Then I quietly made my way out of the bustle donning the cloak and slinking along the castle walls like a thief or an assassin. I couldn't keep the grin off my face, it was that exciting.  
  
Dismissing of course the knowledge that if I was caught they'd probably exile me. That was the punishment for meddling in royal affairs, also known as treason. Anything worse was death, anything less was labor towards restoration of the Labyrinth. It had begun to decay as of late. No one was sure why exactly.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Bryn(His Majesty's Private Study)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When I arrived his majesty was already mesmerized by his glass of brandy and Kenst was looking particularly strained. He was never really good at dealing with Jareth when he became emotional. Neither was I, but that's where the brandy came in. I drank but Kenst didn't.  
  
I settled myself in the armchair across from Jareth, Kenst stood behind Jareth like always fading in and out of my vision as I glanced around the room. King Jareth had very simple tastes as far as his own preference went. This did not include his choice of outfits.  
  
"You've been here a while." I stated blandly. Jareth glanced at me with obvious disinterest and took another sip of the amber liquid. He had been here quite a while it turns out.  
  
"So what is today's debate topic?" I didn't really have to ask but it would be good to keep Jareth breathing, and he had to breath if he was going to shout and storm around like we both ended up doing by the end of such debates.  
  
"Sarah." He murmured. "What to do about Sarah."  
  
One of the great problems with Jareth was that you could never tell exactly how many drinks he had taken. He had a very unusual reaction to liquor as far as becoming drunk goes. For most people including me, perception slowly falls until you're a sputtering drooling puppet, who either cries or laughs until they fall asleep. For obvious reasons I normally do not allow myself to deteriorate to that stage. You can never really tell with Jareth.  
  
I shrugged. "She's a weakness to you, and that means she a vulnerability to the kingdom." I stated. Then I took a long draught. "I think we should kill her."  
  
Jareth, understandably did not take to that idea which spoke volumes about which direction we were going to take in the Sarah affair. Luckily, after several centuries you develop somewhat of an immunity against his piercing glares.  
  
"Very well. We could set her up temporarily as a citizen." I suggested. "How long is she planning to stay?"  
  
Jareth drank some more. "She doesn't intend to visit." He replied softly.  
  
I topped off my glass and poured a new one, filling Jareth's again when he held it forth. The cup already had a faint yellow tint. Obviously, this wasn't just his second drink.  
  
I knew this all already, having interrogated both Hoggle and Sir Didymus. I knew exactly what she had planned on doing, how badly it would have gone, and how irrationally luckily she was to have eaten that enchanted apple, which really was a incredibly complexly designed peach. According to the dwarf Sarah had developed a particular dislike of peaches due to his majesty's former enchantment. It was the only magical peach in the lot. The smell of conspiracy was overwhelming.  
  
Someone wanted them together, enough to get her back here of her own free will and get her right under his majesty's nose within the day. If she was some sort of hidden threat it was my duty to make sure it never got in sight of Jareth, let alone touched him.  
  
"She apologized."  
  
I exchanged looks with Kenst. He nodded, yes, she had. That was most definitely a bad piece of news. I tapped my glass, a long habit. The last time she had been through here the king had become reduced to an emotional wreck for about a week, after which he was relentlessly cruel, and then consistently unpredictable for another three months. The citizens had gone through hell while he recuperated. I had been forced to use the guard for rescuing lost citizens because the labyrinth had become so irregular people were starting to get seriously lost.  
  
I was beginning to think it might have been better to have her accidentally die and then deal with the repercussions Jareth would inflict for my 'incompetence'. I had a duty to keep him protected from anything that would do him harm, even if it was harm he wanted. That was no longer an option though he knew she was here.  
  
"I accepted it." that meant a lot as well. Jareth held grudges longer than most, forgetting wasn't in his capabilities, forgiving was only a yearly visitor.  
  
"So are you going to send her back now? She was trespassing." In order to get a resolution, especially about this subject, I would probably have to get him riled enough to get to the base of what he really wanted. Otherwise he would still try to get even, even after forgiving the poor girl.  
  
"No."  
  
"A job in the castle then perhaps? It turns out she was hoping to ask for citizenship."  
  
"I suppose that would work for a short term solution."  
  
I rubbed my temple and tried to block out the low rumbling hum that indicated the Labyrinth was changing massively. There were some things that changed and some things that never would.  
  
"We also detected another intruder shortly after her appearance, standard procedures are being taken. We also have reason to believe that apple was specifically intended for her." I listed the reasons and watched his eyes glitter with the threat of pain for some unlucky person. I felt pity for them if they were ever found. Even if they deserved what he would do to them.  
  
"Very well, she is to be accompanied by an armed guard at all times if I myself am not with her. Any illegally crossings to and from the Aboveground are to also be brought in for questioning." He finished up the brandy and set it down on the side table before standing and dusting off his cape swinging it back around his shoulders.  
  
"Where are you going?" I inquired as Kenst flowed across the floor to flank Jareth on the left.  
  
He flicked the door open. "To bed of course." He stated turning right.  
  
"Jareth." He paused.  
  
"You're bedroom's the other way." I pointed out.  
  
He glanced down the left hall, and then in the direction he was headed. "Yes of course." Then with the grace benefiting a Goblin King, Jareth promptly passed out.  
  
Kenst flowed forward to catch him, arms emerging from the swirling gray material, and settled him down against the wall before slipping back out of sight and then back into sight again. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. Women, they always meant this kind of trouble for his majesty. Bending over, I flung the unconscious Goblin King over my shoulder and started down the left hall, Kenst trailing just behind.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Alyia(In the Goblin Castle)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
I was in luck. A little earlier it had seemed that fate was against me as I hid in a narrow cleft in the wall, squeezed behind a brazier. The perfectly empty corridor was suddenly occupied by none other than his majesty and he began walking my way. There would be no way he could miss me. He halted though, and to my utter amazement and complete amusement passed out. Right there on the floor in the middle of the hall. Somehow he slowed as he fell, which I don't get at all must be one of those kinks that come with being king.  
  
Either way, Bryn came out after him and tossed his most royal passed-out- ness over his shoulder and started walking down the other way. My sigh of relief could have blown out a forest fire. But even more amazing, they had left the door open! The chance was too good to pass up.  
  
As soon as they were around the corner I scampered down the hall and through the doorway leaving it the tiniest crack open so I could hear people coming. It was Jareth's personal study, the gods of luck weren't only watching, they were practically adopting me.  
  
I wasn't about to stick around there though. I quickly found the record book from the year Issais died and then quickly checked another set of thick heavy volumes, which had Jareth's personal view in them, his diaries. I wasn't about to steal from him though, by the bog! I'm not that crazy. No one said anything was wrong with copying them though. I had three peaches, two of them went towards making replicas of the two books. The third. . . I really didn't need it for anything else so I found his diary from three years ago and copied that. Maybe it'd have some useful info on Sarah.  
  
Stuffing the three volumes into a bag, I looped it over my head and shoulder and tucked it under the cloak. Then like a good little citizen I looked both ways before dashing down the halls and out of the royal wing of the castle. As soon as I was in the servants' passageways I relaxed a bit but only stopped well out of the castle and city where Apple and Kestrel waited for me. We scuttled away guiltily but not without a certain mischievous pleasure. 


	9. Thoughts past

We found a moonlit meadow to read in, one in the forest of silence so we wouldn't be heard and therefore less likely to be discovered. However, the downside was that, if anyone crept up on us they could do it with an army and we'd never hear them coming. I had two peach trees with me though, if you've got even one good peach tree chances are no one will bother you. I didn't have anything to worry about.  
  
Business first. I opened the official record book. The war had ended in the third month, Issais's death had happened in the fifth.  
  
'Attacked from the north using secondary force as a wedge to split their forces and surround.'  
  
Nope, later than that.  
  
'The war is over. Final orders declaring no prisoners was implemented, their forces were surrounded at dawn and destroyed by the second hour of light. Summoned to council hearing noon that day to receive official reward for aiding the war. Reward turns out to be the betrothal to Lady Issais of the Elvish clan, accepted. . . Lady Issais found dead with Lord Keaun. Kaeun awaiting trial for murder. . . Lady Issais buried in summer fields. . . Kaeun convicted, to be stripped of power and imprisoned in the following week. . . Kaeun imprisoned.'  
  
I rolled back on my heels, it certainly hadn't sounded as if Issais had simply become mortal, especially if they had buried her body. Then again, there wasn't much written as far as details went. It was like each little statement represented much more or only a skeleton for what actually happened. Jareth must have one killer memory for this sort of stuff.  
  
I dragged his diary out of the bag, it was much thicker than the record book. I plopped it onto the grass next to the record book and cracked it open halfway flipping back until I got back to the same day the war ended. . .  
  
'Third month, day fifteen, 2197 The swift counter tactic effectively broke their last force and at my orders the third patrol advanced into their last stand, protected by the tenth division of mages all bearing iron. It wasn't a battle it was a slaughter, they could do nothing as my men ruthlessly cut them down. I purposely employed the tactic knowing they wouldn't be able to surrender before they were massacred. I don't know whether it is because of their cruelty to the peaceful creatures they encountered and that the taint would inevitably spread if they survived. Or because I wanted so dearly to prove that I was still one of the light fae, by destroying the remnants of the dark it would be some great proof of my own goodness. Either way once the act was done and our sides celebrated, I retreated to my personal tent under the pretense of exhaustion but really to throw my breakfast and cry over the person I had become in trying to gain respect. I swear I'll never do such again.  
  
Third month, day twenty five, 2197 I was called before the court midday after the battle, the council, it seems, rewards such crude and merciless tactics. Ironically they rewarded me with an equally crude gesture, by offering to me the hand of Lady Issais, the elvish heir. Knowing Lady Issais I accepted, if only to prevent further trouble for her from other unwanted betrothals. This was a match neither of us wanted, but if we both lived betrothed it would eliminate the pretense of marriage in any other flirtatious endeavors. Any fae who would seriously consider marriage would be effectively dispelled by the pairing and any who weren't betrayed themselves as merely playing. I talked with Issais later, chaperoned, to both of our amusement by her childhood friend Keaun, and explained the matter to her. She agreed and thanked me for the courtesy. However it still feels like a dirty tactic, although in the end it will no doubt be a useful one. Her friend too, Kaeun brought about an acrid taste in my mouth, I cannot dispel the dislike I have for him, although it is unfounded it refuses to be quelled.  
  
Fifth month, day seven, 2197 It is times like these when I sorely wish my instincts were not so correct. Lady Issais was found dead this morning, in her room with Kaeun standing at the windows with a magically signed confession to prove his innocence. He was accused of her murder naturally, evidence notwithstanding. Upon examination the healers noticed an anomaly with her body, apparently her soul was not within it at the moment of it's death. This means she was in magical trance or her soul was somehow drawn forth through magical means. . . Either way, I have no doubt of Kaeun's involvement, even though in all other aspects it appears that Issais suicide, members of the council visited the Seer whom condemned Kaeun, and that was all it took to accuse him.  
  
Fifth month, day eleven, 2197 Issais was buried today, beneath a weeping willow in the summer lands at the center of the Elven realm. I attended, being her formerly betrothed husband. However her inheritance remains with the elvish line, her father I can tell is already well on his way to making another heir. I gave Issais's mother my condolences, for both and remained long after the last mourner as was my right. After they departed however I approached the simple stone alter that bore her name and using my own magic I scryed in its surface for her soul, something no one else had considered. The outcome was most unexpected, Issais's soul was alive, but her body was most assuredly dead. Unfortunately I could not locate where her soul was, or how it had come to be separated from her body. I returned to the Labyrinth late.  
  
Sixth month, second day, 2197 Kaeun is convicted of the first murder of a light fae by a light fae. Underground creatures are seelie or unseelie, the Seelie being the light fae and the Unseelie the darker. Simply put Kaeun is the first to have killed another fae after this distinction was made. Due to Lady Issais's part in the splitting of worlds and formation of the underground they managed to give him the maximum punishment. To be bound his power and imprisoned in one of the many magically stripped crystals that now liter the countryside. I understand it is a complicated procedure to cast and a near impregnable one once achieved. It is my personal opinion that he should simply be killed. That would eliminate the threat once and for all. I believe the council fears his soul will go forth to and perhaps posses one of them, I harbor no such notions. If the opportunity arises I shall follow my instinct like I should have the first time and kill him.  
  
Sixth month, day thirteen, summer solstice, 2197 Yesterday, and the day before were spent imprisoning Kaeun. He seemed remarkably calm for one who would spend eternity trapped in the Black Crystal Temple, as his prison has so aptly been named, created out of a single block of Black crystal. The procedure was actually relatively simple. He wore iron the entire time, but there were still too many opportunities for him to escape for me to be comfortable. I had Bryn wait just outside, since he would interfere with the magical, Kenst like usual is not recognized nor affected by magic and stood by my side during the entire procedure, unnoticed by the other council members. To shape the crystal it had to be rejuvenated with an incredible amount of power, the thirteen of us drained ourselves until the crystal was luminescent with pure blue light, Kaeun was then partially embedded by magical means and the crystal was once again drained. I lost no power, but I have never felt wearier in my entire existence. We left him, submerged at his shoulders and waist, apparently he had not fought at all during the procedure, odd. I was tense well after the ceremony, and doubtless will be for days. As the casters departed one called out that a girl had been his undoing. He had laughed and said that a girl would be his rise to ascension. The eerie laugh followed us out of that accursed place. I hope to never have to step foot in there again.'  
  
I snapped off a piece of grass and lay it so it stuck above the pages before closing my copy of his journal and for the record book. I stuffed both back into my bag and put them to the side as I backed up against Kestrel. Reading the journal had been more than I had hoped, and less than I needed. Jareth had noticed that Lady Issais's soul was missing, but he hadn't gotten any farther than that. From that moment on the diary seemed too much like a scary story.  
  
What worried me was that I could see Kaeun acting like that, standing by a window as the guards burst in. Going calmly. He seemed much to calm, even Jareth had noted it. I could understand his passivity now after centuries but then, on the days when his future was decided he acted as if he didn't care of the outcome. He seemed so. . . disconnected. It made me worry. But all the evidence was in his favor. If only I could get a hold of Lady Issais's diary. . .  
  
I'd have to go see Toby about that. In the meantime though. . .  
  
I pulled out the third book and flipped through until I saw Sarah's name then backtracked from there.  
  
'The one thousand three hundredth runner of my labyrinth, this time in pursuit of a marvelously handsome looking baby boy. I'll never understand the incentive for mortals to throw their children away, such precious things and all it takes is a sentence for me to whisk them away. Sometimes I wish that all mortals would wish their children away so I could take the unwanted ones from those that aren't deserving of their love and devotion. That would wear on the Labyrinth though, and I would doubtlessly get not a wink of sleep. So in the best interests of the Goblin king and his kingdom things shall remain the way they are. The newest contender's name is Sarah, the one that I've watched in spare moments for amusement and purification. Her innocence brings certain warmth that gives me strength to continue with the tenacious and dangerous politics that being a king requires. I believe all kings should have a Sarah to watch. It is a pleasure to meet her at last.  
  
Ha! I am impressed, she has managed to win over that dwarf that tends the gate gardens. I have faithfully guarded his little hut and protected the Labyrinth for millennia and all it takes to turn a subject against me is a few sweet words and a pretty trinket. I suppose it is to be expected, seeing how my kingdom is that of cunning and trickery. Naturally my citizens are of the more shady type but I do believe I have forbidden such behavior within my realm. I wonder if I should punish him for disobeying my laws or congratulate him for making perhaps the only source of my happiness, happy.  
  
. . . I am impressed yet again, she is progressing rapidly through the labyrinth, now in company of some beast and the bog bridge guard, who has abandoned his post in light of escorting her to the castle. She is clever I'll give her that, however the fiery's are all roused because of her retaliatory actions and the bog shall be needing a new bridge.  
  
. . . She kept a clear and straight focus for her goal, I suppose it is foolish of me to think she would be deterred by anything or anyone. Including myself. I would actually question my own judgment of people if she had accepted my offer as I had spoken it. However that does not make it hurt any less. I do believe this is a good time to see how many drinks it will take for me to become completely oblivious to this. I can already feel the labyrinth moving with my inner turmoil. I pity the citizens in these next few days but there is little I can do at this moment.  
  
. . . I have emptied my whisky stock and not achieved one moment of forgetfulness. Perhaps brandy is a better beverage to try, I like the flavor more either way.'  
  
Oh yeah, I felt much better now. It was just like reading one of those romance novels, only for real. He was in love, even I could tell. Although to be in love with such a young girl was entirely improper, not to mention the fact that she was a mortal. Love does not discriminate unfortunately, otherwise a lot more relationship would end up happier, and amongst the same species. I would really have to find Issais's diary to find out how to achieve that power and that ritual. Sarah deserved to be happy, almost as much as his majesty. It was poetic almost.  
  
I snuggled up against Kestrel's roots and pulled the cloak over me my mind swimming with plans and romantic thoughts. I only hope the King has gotten himself in order enough to accept Sarah's feelings. He didn't look too self-assured when I saw him passed out on the castle floor. . . 


	10. Thoughts present

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jareth (His room) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I woke up with more in my head than ought to have been there. First was a droning pain that made everything at once too bright and too blurry and second was the grinding background hum of the Labyrinth that meant I was still much too upset over the Sarah issue to get much done. I wobbled out of bed at which Kenst chose to appear and half carry half drag me across my bedroom to the bathroom where he left me on the edge of the tub.  
  
Kenst is very thoughtful and caring when it comes to me, but not thoughtful or caring enough to fill the tub first. I found out after I had sat down in it that it was completely empty, and took five minutes finding the right temperature between dials that turned too much or not enough. I was particularly good at drinking liquors, just not particularly good at the aftereffects.  
  
I realized I had to make a decision about Sarah. Seriously, not like the discussion in my study last night but an actual decision that I would be comfortable and proud of coming up with. I didn't think I would have her work as a maid, no I would probably be more content in leaving her to live in the library and bask in her reactions as she ate her way through my thousands of texts. I don't think that would satisfy her now though, although at one point it may have.  
  
I added trips through the Labyrinth to her schedule, which may pacify her more but she'd need a guide. Actually a teacher would be best, one who could explain the various places and people that she may have read about in her books. Some sort of companionship too, perhaps I could arrange for. . .  
  
I cut the thoughts short, in my mind I knew I had already decided on what to do, and was skipping around it because of how. . . because of how selfish it seemed to take the role of personal escort. Forget the fact that she is a mortal and three years ago I swore I'd bury it as the past. She had come back, and I would not be satisfied any other way. This way I could fix my own mistakes, correct notions about me and still have her turn to me for support. It was all I wanted and yet, there was something, sneaky about it.  
  
Naturally, I'd have Bryn take her walking and on the rounds with him. She would have to learn something of self-defense as well, I wouldn't have her helpless should things go wrong. The library would be open to her use and I'd invite other friends to help guide her in magic and the history of the Underground.  
  
Best to say. . . I was giving her a full underground education to make her understand what she was getting into by becoming a citizen. It would be bait she would gladly snatch up. Although. . . underneath it all I knew. . .  
  
I was grooming her to be queen.  
  
But I didn't want to admit that just yet, even though Bryn and Kenst already knew. I could tell they did when Bryn suggested killing her. When the Labyrinth began to shift minutes after she arrived. When I started on the brandy well before sunset. When I dismissed the rest of the petitioners so I could pull her from the peaceful sleep. When I told Kenst to reveal himself so the petitioners would move faster. They knew. . . but I couldn't admit it just yet.  
  
Because if she knew me like I knew her. . . she would realize what I was doing. Or she would find out. And I didn't want that, because if she didn't come for any reason other than to apologize and become a citizen it would create a rift between us. And if she did come for other reasons then just to apologize then maybe she would accept it before I had to admit it.  
  
I think that would be best.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sarah (her room) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
My hand tickled. Not the ticklish laugher invoking sensation but more like a tingle. It was a blended sense of a rapid lessening of pressure and the prickling feeling of a chill breeze. It reminded me heavily of water evaporating off my skin, only the back of my hand was still just slightly moist from when he had breathed out just after he had kissed it. I was intensely aware of that minute area. Much too aware for my own comfort.  
  
I concluded that knowing that I loved him was much much easier then actually dealing with the fact that I did. Half of my mind was frantically trying to come up with an answer as to how I was going to deal with the entire thing when a simple kiss on my hand had reduced me to a state mirroring a conscious coma victim.  
  
The other half was sulking that my first kiss had been on my hand instead of proper romantic style. I wasn't sure what that would do to me though, especially after this latest realization of my talent to short circuit in his presence.  
  
At least I had said what I intended, this way if things went exactly I was hoping they didn't I'd still have that off my chest. He had accepted my apology and forgiven me and it looked as if we would be able to start anew. Hopefully.  
  
He had left pretty quickly though, did that mean he held a grudge against me from last time? I knew from experience that even if people accepted your apology that didn't necessarily mean that they forgave you as well, some still harboring anger long after it was all but forgotten in my mind.  
  
Jareth just didn't seem like that type of a person though. . .  
  
He struck me as the type to keep to his word. Only to his word though, and the exact words at that. That was part of what I found interesting in him. . . attractive because of the gentile nature of it, because of the rarity of it at home even though it was such a small simple thing.  
  
If there's such thing as love at first sight, mine was love at first mention. He had proudly swept into the scene in my newest fantasy novel with the air and poise only a Goblin King could achieve. The story seemed more detailed and real when he was in the picture, the events played out in my mind with such detail I could have counted the creases in the heroin's gown. Even the letters on the page were clearer, sharper somehow.  
  
There were the smirks and the costumes, his wild hair and the double meaning teases. He could arch his eyebrow and wore heeled boots, rotate three crystals in his hand. Oh the magic. . . the beautifully pure yet deadly crystals that were a world in themselves. Vessels that could hold dreams, hopes, fears, salvation and defeat.  
  
Then there was his arrogance too. . . not just any arrogance because I could have gone to school and gotten enough to last a lifetime. But his, it was rightful arrogance. Throughout the book he was the Goblin King, he was in control manipulated the game and held the child hostage watching with keen amusement and delight as the heroine came closer and closer. Taking each of her victories as a sign of a worthy opponent, rooting for her all along but being unmistakably on his own side, which she was against.  
  
Right up to the point where she reached the castle he was confidence and power, sultry temptation but also gentlest care. Orchestrating the Labyrinth to at once challenge her and protect her, placing her in harms way but with the knowledge that no damage would be taken. I hadn't realized he had done the same for me until after many conversations with Hoggle and rereading the book several times.  
  
That's what had captured me though, the perfection I'd always sought but never really knew I was looking for. It seemed too flawless, too precise to be real. So when he finally appeared it was no surprise that shock was my natural reaction.  
  
I was young at the time, didn't understand the attraction as anything more than adoration. It hurt when he treated me like the child I realize I was. The condescending tone something that I'd heard many times before and would many times after that, it frustrated me because it wasn't deserved then. It wasn't deserved when he did it either, but he had more of a right to use it than my father or Karen.  
  
He didn't know me, but they hadn't taken the time to know me, and wouldn't listen when I tried to tell them and didn't believe me when they did. So right from the beginning, I tried to be an equal. Mocked the difficulty and tried my best to get through the Labyrinth employing everything I could possibly think of. I wouldn't accept defeat.  
  
Because. . . if I did loose, he would have had the right to speak to me like that. And that would mean that they were probably right too, to speak to me like I was a child. And I couldn't accept that, wouldn't accept that. Defeat wasn't not an option, I was already writing invitations to my victory party.  
  
He was the person I wanted to be like, poised, elegant, surreal. Aloof with the knowledge that, yes, I was superior to them. That I knew what I was doing. That everything would come out okay.  
  
He had always had that. Even right before she had said the words in the book, I could tell he knew she was going to say them. Yet he clung to the hope that her mind might change just before she said the words, endured until it was complete and then, and only then, accepted the defeat he knew had been coming. I love him for that too.  
  
Sometimes it's difficult to remember that love though. Especially when he's acting the arrogant jerk.  
  
Like locking me in this room.  
  
I gave the doorknob one last wrenching twist that almost resulted in skinning my palm. That door was just about as likely to open as the wall next to it. My room had no windows, his planning also no doubt.  
  
It would be mediocre to say I was angry with him. If someone had injected that chemical into me that forces you to tell the truth, I suppose I would describe my mood as furious with great respect to the planning that thwarted my every idea. However, without the clarifying drug, furious was all that came through.  
  
In fact, if the interrogator hadn't specifically asked me to elaborate, with a "is rage all you feel?" or "Anything else?" I would probably have stuck to the furious answer and never given it a second thought.  
  
There was little else to do though, the room was about as bare as a cell but appeared to be well kept. Besides the bed there was one chest of drawers and a side table, it was spotlessly clean though. By magical or simply an overzealous cleaning just before my arrival, I couldn't tell.  
  
More for my own pride I tried the door one last time. I braced my feet against the wall gripped the knob with both hands and then pulled. When the knob unexpectedly turned I had the ill luck to tumble across the floor. I was just crowing my own success from the rooftops when my doorway was filled again with a person.  
  
The person in black. Who had held a sword to me.  
  
Salvation to damnation. Just my luck. 


	11. an apple disguised as a peach

Alyia (the forest)   
  
I woke up with champagne happiness and a major cramp in my left shoulder. The girl was back, the king would be his normal self, and it was time to retrieve Pear. I was all up for adventures, but it was so much safer to be the spectator for those sorta things.  
  
I had gone through the most horrific challenges to have my tree returned to me and I had survived. Into the forbidden crystal prison, up to mortal world and even illicit thoughts about three wheeled traveling (heaven forbid tricycles ever make it to the underground). I had my three days of glory and now it was time to get my tree and settle back into my daily routine. Nothing better conveyed a sense of a set routine than the ability to walk from the marble forest to the obsidian lake.  
  
But first my tree!  
  
I buried the books, they were already beginning to go rotten, as peaches do. Their one great flaw you could say. . .  
  
In retrospect, if I was any more ignorant that day I would have probably walked into a lake thinking the chill was a change in altitude. As it was I arrived at the castle in a state of catatonic happiness, if I found a coin on the way I would have probably floated away with joy. As it was I joined the petition lines with my usual all too cheerful demeanor, repaying glares, stares, and sneers with a cheesy smile that was actually authentic.  
  
Jareth (Throne Room)   
  
The line was going awfully quickly this morning, things couldn't be better.  
  
I was in a royal hurry to get done with petitions. As a King it was my duty to dispense justice. Today I was well in favor of the saying 'help comes to those who help themselves'. In serious cases I avidly declared a judgment and for the lesser ones advised them to go about it themselves.  
  
The faces of my people blurred past, and Kenst at my side remained immovably still presenting a effect that made it seem as if a time compression spell was in effect. My mind was on a single individual, and she was currently locked in her room still. I had sent Bryn to give her a tour through the castle until petitions was over. I trusted Bryn with my life, and hers. He still didn't favor her presence here though.  
  
"Your majesty my neighbor Isabelle stole one of my peach trees."  
  
"Steal it back."  
  
The grove owner stood for a moment in shock. Grove owners were wonderfully unpredictable people, I couldn't imagine why this decision would stump her so. Often enough they took the law into their own hands, having me support it this once wouldn't by any means come as a shock. Dismissively I gestured the next person forward. . .  
  
Alyia (Throne Room)   
  
I plodded five steps before the words seeped past my horror and actually penetrated my mind. Not again! This was unheard of! Tradition was lost! Pear was still captive and I was once again deprived of my royal command to have her returned.  
  
Fuming I turned back to face the King who appeared to be falling asleep on the throne.  
  
"YOU JERK!"  
  
Jareth (Throne Room)   
  
I snapped out of my reverie and transferred my gaze from the two goblins to the dismissed grove owner.  
  
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY THE HELL CAN'T YOU JUST GIVE ME THE REGULAR SENTENCE!!"  
  
I arched an eyebrow. It was highly unusual for someone to speak out against me. Actually, no, it was fairly common. It was highly unusual for someone to insult me to my face, in my throne room, in the midst of twelve royal guards.  
  
Yes, that's correct.  
  
"I JUST WANT MY TREE BACK DAMMIT! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!"  
  
A smile touched the edge of my lips, amusing no doubt, but I've never been too good at being insulted. I twisted my fingers and let the crystal roll out of my hand, bounce lazily down the steps and close the distance as she futilely tried to run away from it.  
  
Silly girl.  
  
Alyia (...?)   
  
I felt the strings of magic latch onto my foot and then instantaneously wrap around the rest of me, coating me in magic before I was abruptly yanked out of existence there, my furious demand still rebounding off the walls. I reappeared in the castle dungeon, landing on my rear in about two inches of stagnant water.  
  
El gross-o.  
  
I didn't have Pear, I was stuck in the dungeon, and I had gone through all that trouble just to fix his love life. What a thankless bastard. I was cold, wet and furious. Raising my mouth in the direction the throne room must have been in-upwards I let out one last insult.  
  
"I HOPE YOU GET LOST OUT THERE YOU ARROGANT JERK!!!"  
  
BAM. I was on an island in the bog not too far from the bridge.  
  
"Hey! Sir Didi-something! Hey!"  
  
Where was the damn dog-er fox when you needed him what was his name again Didi. . .  
  
"Sir Didymus!" I cried  
  
Sarah (the Castle)   
  
I was beginning to wonder if the small garden where I had been wordlessly led was some sort of fancier cell, the silent man in black had locked the door purposefully from the other side when he shut me in here. I ran across the grass to embrace the small fox, scratching and petting Ambrosias as he shuffled up as well and smiling warmly at Hoggle.  
  
"C'mere Hoggle, give me a hug. There really wasn't anything you could do about it." I told him kindly.  
  
He sidled up in his usual hesitant way and let me hug him.  
  
"What's happened? They didn't hurt you or anything right?" I demanded.  
  
"You ate a sleep peach m'lady." Sir Didymus explained.  
  
"Peach? It was an apple!"  
  
"It's a peach that was made to look like an apple." Hoggle snapped.  
  
I rocked back on my heels. "Why would someone want to do that to me?"  
  
Sir Didymus shrugged. "I got them from a grove-owner, strange people can never trust them."  
  
Hoggle nodded emphatically. "That's for sure, why'd you even accept them in the first place."  
  
The fox shrugged. "It wasn't my intention. The young boy with her tossed them to me, it would have been rude not to catch them."  
  
Hoggle murmured something under his breath.  
  
"Jareth said that he was the only one who could remove the spell, so someone wanted me to be noticed by him. Why would someone want that." I asked.  
  
They both shrugged apologetically.  
  
"Could Jareth have done this?" I asked tentatively.  
  
"Jareth can do anything, I've never heard of anyone commanding a grove owner though." Hoggle said.  
  
Didymus agreed. "They're really quite. . . eccentric. Grove owners are odd people with nothing to live for, no one to live for, they've got nothing at all but their trees."  
  
"And their attitudes." Hoggle added  
  
"What do they normally go around putting people to sleep like that?"  
  
"Put people to sleep, pay in gold that goes rotten and turns into peaches, they leave magical peaches all over the place that'll turn you into a goblin or a tree or another of those peaches!"  
  
"Why doesn't Jareth get rid of them."  
  
"His majesty finds them amusing, or at least their antics amusing." Sir Didymus offered.  
  
"Still Jareth isn't usually needed to pull one of those sleep spells off someone every time this happens is he?"  
  
"No. Most wear off after a number of hours, days, sometimes years. But they all have had a time limit on them, yours did not." Jareth said, striding around the corner of the building. 


End file.
